Tsuki no Namida
by Lulu-Prints
Summary: Tho the love-birds Gii and Takumi are now back together, they find themselves facing new crisis that threatens their relationship. The story of couples questioning and confirming their love; taking place after Bibou no Detail. Rated M for YAOI scenes.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

Ohhai! This fanfiction is here greatly inspired by the 3rd live-action movie in the series, Bibou no Detail. I hope that my writing will be able to do Takumi and Gii justice!. The writing will pick up from after Bibou no Detail, just letting you guys know to avoid any confusion! Here I have to say that I haven't found the time to follow the manga yet, so when I wrote this, I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts. Also, I'm not too sure how the storyline in the manga develops, so pardon me for not being faithful to the manga storyline or the future movies!

Trigger Warnings: BL, yaoi, rape, abuse, non-con.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_"Takumi.. I have a favour to ask."_

_".. What is it, Gii?"_

_Takumi raised his eyes, and found his gaze locked with Gii's.  
A smile spread across Takumi's face as he felt his lover lift up a lock of his own hair to his lips._

_"From now on, people are probably going to talk about how we're together._  
_But even so.. Will you stay by my side, no matter what?_  
_Will you be my partner-in-crime?"_

_"That.. Sounds kind of like a proposal.."_

_"Just answer me, Takumi."_

_Circling his arms around Gii's neck, Takumi moved in, and touched their noses together._

_"Okay.. Gii.  
I'll be your accomplice..  
And I'll forever be by your side.."_

* * *

Shidou Academy, the all-boys high school Takumi now attends as a third-year senior, sits deep within the mountainous area far away from the buzzing cities. However, precisely because its population of students, teachers and staff is considerably small, word tends to spread faster than wild fire, in this more-than-averagely well-off community.

Afterall, gossiping was but a convenient, harmless past-time.

Takumi sat snuggly by his lover, Saki Giichi's side, surrounded by his usual group of friends. The bunch of them met up after school as requested by Akaike Syozo-kun, and the said member of the discipline committee was now engaged in a light conversation with Gii. Takumi glanced frequently between the both of them, trying to keep up with the constantly changing conversation topics- the conversation was not going at all too fast, but the rate they were exchanging information was a little too rapid for Takumi to handle.

"The whole school now knows that you and Hayama are back together, Gii, freshmen included."

Even though Syozo sounded like he had been preparing to say this, even though his words were lined with humour, Gii could not help but to notice that there was an underlying note of worry in his best friend's voice.

"It's to be expected, but... Leave them be, I don't really care about what they think anymore."

As he replied, Gii's arms found themselves around Takumi's waist, pulling the slender boy closer. Takumi jumped a little in surprise, but soon settled by Gii's side as though he didn't mind it anymore - much unlike how he would have reacted at the start of the school term.

"In any case, it's good to see that Takumi has gotten over his phobia once more," Toshihisa injected with a smile.

Takumi blushed in response, and lowered his head. "It's because of all of you that has supported me through.."

"And of course, because of my presence, no?" Gii laughed, and gave Takumi a light peck on the cheeks. Though surprised by the pair of lovers' new level of comfort and proximity with each other, everyone else merely glanced away and not questioned their actions. Takumi sank into a deeper shade of red, but did not refuse Gii's advances.

The silence held for a moment, but it was not uncomfortable nor awkward.

Jumping as though he had remembered something suddenly, Takumi slowly shrugged out of Gii's arm, and glanced at the door.

"I-I forgot an important textbook under my desk in the classroom.."

"For the test tomorrow?"

"Yes.."

"Oh- I'll go with you to get it then!" said Toshihisa immediately, leaping to his feet.

"Eh? Uh, okay, thank you Toshihisa.. I'll be back soon ne, Gii, Akaike-kun?"

"Don't take too long."

The remaining pair of best friends watched Takumi and Toshihisa as they exited the room quickly, and finally the door swung shut to a quiet room. However, when Syozo returned his gaze to Gii's softened facial features, his deep eyes were wiped of everything but worry.

"Say, Gii.. Are you prepared?"

Gii shot a dark, worried look at Syozo, his eyelids dropping as he looked away once more.

"It's only going to get harder after this," Syozo reflected quietly, calculating in his head.

"Definitely not any harder than how it has been for me," _without Takumi by my side, _Gii added in his mind. "And for Takumi.."

"This was a war that revolved around you.. But now that Hayama is involved as well, he's sure to be targeted to get your attention.. Stop. I know what you're going to say. Well, we're a quarter through the year already, so there shouldn't be a problem if things keep to the way they've been so far. Now that we somehow have Misu Arata understanding the situation too, we should have enough of us to be able to keep an eye out for Hayama's safety."

"Ah.." Gii sighed, having being cut off by Syozo without even getting a chance to speak. ".. Thank you, Syozo. I'm grateful for you doing this."

"Don't mention it. Just keep Hayama safe and happy. That's all that we need to see. We all feel the same way."

The pair of friends exchanged an understanding gaze, which broke when the door opened again to reveal Toshihisa jogging into the room with Takumi by his side, their laughter chasing away the previous gloom which clouded the room.

Distracted, none of them paid much attention to their surroundings; just beside them, a window of the room slided close slowly, and a figure slipped away into the nearby crowd with a smirk on his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.

That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Easing himself into room 270, the room he shared with Misu-kun, Takumi shut the door behind himself quietly, and glanced around the room. Lit only by the lonesome streak of moonlight flickering through the window, the room seemed more unfamiliar than ever before because of the lack of a certain person's presence - Takumi concluded, as he noted that the bed by his own was already occupied. Misu-kun must have gone ahead to rest early again tonight, thought the slender boy as a sad, little smile lifted up the corners of his lips.

The was no need for him to wake his sleeping room mate, then.

As he strolled towards his bed, Takumi casually left his bag by his desk, and flopped right onto his bed still in his jacket and all. The thin layer of dust that sat on his sheets were unsettled by his sudden movements, and rose into the air, almost causing the slender boy to sneeze. Takumi wriggled under his sheets, and sighed as he rested his head against his pillow.

Considering from the last time he made his bed, it had been 2 nights since he had slept in it. After he made up with Gii, Takumi found himself frequently spending nights over in the other boy's room. Not that they were actually doing something every night; it was more for the fact that each other's presence helped to calm the other down, and that now that they were back together, they were unwilling to spend too much time apart during their own free time.

However, it was improper for him to stay there every night. Not only did they risk getting caught, there was also the possibility that the other students would find out - Of course, Misu-kun wouldn't possibly mind it, but it would be bad if others, apart from Misu-kun, found out that he was not in his room after lights out.

Also, it'll be bad if the others found out about the depth of his relationship with Gii..

This train of thoughts brought Gii's image straight into his head. Blushing as he pictured Gii's gentle smile and kiss on his forehead before he left the older boy's room, Takumi threw his sheets above his head, and fell quickly into sleep with lethargy.

From the bed by his side, the sheets rustled softly, and were pulled back to reveal a taller boy than Takumi himself. Misu sat up to lean against the head rest of his own bed, and threw a glance at the bed beside his own. After confirming the long strands of hazel hair that were revealed from beneath the pulled-up sheets indeed belonged to Takumi, Misu heaved a sigh of relief, and raised his arms to the back of his head.

Why he was doing something so troublesome, for someone he never really liked, Misu didn't know. It just felt like he had a certain sense of responsibility when it involves Hayama, Saki or no Saki around, but this was something he did not want to admit.

_Saki, you owe me a big one for this, _groaned Misu as he eased himself back into his bed to sleep.

* * *

When Takumi exited his room to make his way to his first class in the morning, he was surprised to see Akaike-kun leaning against the frame of his room door, a dull look spread across his features as he stared at the ground. In his hand he was playing with a toy of some sort, tossing it up and down carelessly as though he wasn't pay any attention to it at all.

"Eh? Akaike-kun, good morning!"

Akaike-kun jumped, and almost dropped the toy he was fiddling with as he stared at Takumi.

"Good morning, Hayama. You surprised me," the other boy said as he firmly caught the toy in his outstretched hand. Takumi's gaze landed on that toy, and recognised it as his own; the one Akaike-kun had been playing with, and had accidentally taken with him when he first visited Takumi's new room at the start of this year.

"Oh, this," Akaike-kun noticed his own line of vision, and spared the toy he held a brief glance as well. "I came to return this," he answered Takumi's silent question, not hesitating to shoot Takumi a smile before tossing the toy to the slender boy.

"Eh?" replied Takumi simply catching the toy almost clumsily. Glancing from the toy, to Akaike-kun's face, then back to the toy, he somehow felt as though there was something Akaike-kun had been trying to keep hidden within his smile, but he could not pin-point it at this point.

Noting how Takumi had sank into deep thoughts, Syozo closed his eyes quickly to clear his thoughts, then focused his gaze upon Takumi once more.

"Shouldn't you return, and leave that in your room?" Akaike-kun's suggestion broke through his trance-like state, and Takumi hurriedly glanced at Akaike-kun before dropping his head.

"Eh?"

"Would you rather carry it around?"

"No, it's just.. Misu-kun should be changing inside now, so.."

"Oh. Then, let's head to the classroom together, Hayama,"

"Eh? .. Okay.."

Takumi replied hastily, and slipped the toy into a pocket of his pants. As they strolled towards the classroom blocks, Akaike-kun engaged him in a conversation about class work, something he has never done before; their conversational topics always revolved around Gii. It was then did Takumi finally managed to single out a certain weird point in Akaike-kun's behaviour this morning -

Akaike-kun has never been one to walk with someone to classes and such, before.

* * *

Takumi never wanted to think about the kind of influence Gii and his family had on the school and its committee, but it was apparent without even him questioning, now that he had Gii sitting by his side once again in Literature, Biology and several other classes. Of course, it was already quite some time into the year, so Gii was unable to change all of his classes to accommodate to Takumi's; but he had done more than enough, and the message had been driven through to most of the student population.

Saki Giichi had decided that, even distance between himself and everyone else didn't matter anymore.

_"That's the guy, Hayama Takumi?"_

_"He doesn't look much, but his face is cute. Maybe Saki-senpai is with him for his pretty face."_

_"For the fun of it?"_

_"Heh? But Saki-senpai wouldn't have a use for a guy like him.."_

Everywhere he went, even if he was always surrounded by Gii, Akaike-kun, Toshihisa, Misu-kun and, or Shingyoji-kun, the whispering followed. Sometimes, rumours and insults louder than sniggers reached their ears, but they could do nothing about them. Even with his companion's comforting presence, Gii's threatening glares, or Takumi's own forced obliviousness, the talks wouldn't stop. It was going from bad to worse, because inside, Takumi knew that he was starting to feel more and more powerless against block those verbal attacks.

His border-less imagination was his greatest weakness, and it seemed almost like the people against him being with Gii were making use of it. Word of Saki Giichi being Gay for a poorer-than-average boy from a family of no social standing must have been spread beyond the borders of the school - this was agreed by everyone, then confirmed by Akaike-kun. Even though they knew not yet the implications this has on Gii, his family or his father's company, the results were imaginable.

_"They say he's being taken care of personally by Saki-senpai."_

_"Look at the way he dogs after Saki-senpai!"_

_"They've definitely done That before."_

_"That's ridiculous!"_

_"That guy probably forced himself onto Saki-senpai."_

_"- probably only for the money-"_

_"You've got to be kidding-"_

"Don't listen."

Takumi felt as though he was drowning in those insults he was unable to repel, and they were dragging him further and further into a pit of deep regret. Gii had warned him not to worry about any of this; that his only concern was Takumi's own well-being, but in light of the news they constantly receive from outside of Shidou Academy..

_What if this mess.. What if I end up sabotaging Gii's work, his family, his future.._

"Don't listen, Hayama."

"Hey Takumi, come back!"

Abruptly, Takumi felt a soft touch on either sides of his face, and he was jerked out of his thoughts by a pair of hands that cupped his ears with an action so fast, yet gentle. Now, he was returning to his room with Toshihisa and Misu-kun, and it was none other than Toshihisa who had pulled him out of the storm, albeit only temporarily. Glancing at his first year room mate, then at his current room mate, Takumi mumbled a small, "I wasn't listening," shrugged out of Toshihisa's comforting hold, and walked ahead of his company.

Behind his back, Toshihisa shot a startled glance at Misu-kun, who returned but a look of deep thoughts. Unable to do anything but to shrug it off at the moment, the both of them rushed up to keep with Takumi's pace as they headed towards room 270.

Gii had left shortly after class, and would be away again this whole afternoon, together with Akaike-kun. _"To settle something,"_ he had said with a big smile like he always did, while pulling Takumi into a hug. Even though he knew it was useless to go searching for Gii, Takumi still could not help but to feel restless ever since Gii had left them.

Recently, Gii had been taking off-days from school, disappearing every few days and returning only on few other days. Sometimes Akaike-kun would disappear together with him, but mostly he tried to handled things alone. Had this happened during last year, Takumi might have been able to shrug it off; but Gii frequent absence was emphasized by Takumi's gradually being surrounded by everyone - or at least, someone - on a daily basis.

It felt as though they've worked out a sechdule, and was keeping check of him in shifts.

They left him with no space for arguments.. Although Takumi felt that even if he could, he might not argue against it.

"Speaking of which, Misu, haven't Shingyoji-kun been making trying to make advances again?"

Takumi raised his head, his hand pausing on his paperwork. He hadn't been actively keeping track of the conversation, since Misu-kun and Toshihisa kept changing topics, but this one caught his interest.

"Not really," replied Misu-kun in a bored voice, his brows furrowing only slightly as he studied his work.

"Come on, doesn't hurt to share!"

"No matter how he feels, I'm not in love with him."

Throwing a quick glance at Misu-kun, Takumi dropped his head and tried to focus once again on his work. That sentence sounded very familiar - almost exactly how Misu-kun had put it to him, the first day they met in this room. Takumi bit his lips; hearing this made him feel a little sorry for Shingyoji-kun.

Toshihisa didn't seem to want to give up just yet.

"But-"

"We're not going out, and I don't ever see myself together with Shingyoji."

"Surely you-"

"I don't feel anything for someone like him."

Takumi winced, unable to concentrate on his work anymore. T_hank goodness Shingyoji-kun isn't around_, Takumi thought.

The sound of heavy objects dropping onto the floor sounded from just outside their room door, and caught everyone's attention. Toshihisa, who was seated nearest to the door, jumped up at once and wrenched the door open. There standing at the door was a stunned Shingyoji-kun, his arms still outstretched, a pile of books surrounding his feet.

He was staring straight into the room without seeing, his eyes moist with tears.

Abruptly realising that he was being stared at by everyone in the room, Shingyoji jumped, and almost stumbled on the books he had dropped. Toshihisa had stepped away backwards as well, his hands at his mouth, shocked by Shingyoji being at the door.

Even with the distance between them, Takumi could see the shivers wrecking through Shingyoji-kun's body. A strange, awkward silence held the 4 teenagers stationary. Then, Takumi watched as Shingyoji-kun turned his head mechanically, and threw a heartbroken look in Misu-kun's direction, before dashing away from the room.

Misu-kun stood up with a sharp scraping sound of the chair's legs against the floor. In the next moment he was gone, his chasing footsteps echoing through the corridors and stairway until he had left the dormitory building. Startled, as though not knowing what to do, Toshihisa ran out of the room as well, leaving Takumi still sitting at his desk alone in the room.

_I should follow as well. Help find Shingyoji-kun, or comfort him, or-_

His confused thoughts were cut off abruptly when he felt something collide heavily with his head.

As he found himself falling onto his desk, everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_"I don't want to regret this, Takumi.."_

_Regret, what? Gii.._

_"I love you.."_

_I love you too, Gii, that's why I don't want to be a burden for you anymore.._

This thought brought Takumi's memories of Gii's pained expression surfacing to the top of his consciousness - Gii's furrowed brows, trembling lips and deep, sorrowful irises stabbed at Takumi's heart just recalling it. What hurt him the most was knowing that he was the one responsible for putting that expression on Gii's handsome, usually smiling face - and that it didn't happen just once, but twice, already.

He never, ever wanted to see that on Gii's face again.

A tear escaped from his closed lids, but stay held against his eyes by an unfamiliar binding sensation around his head.

More shocked than surprised, Takumi found himself blindfolded, the moment he opened his eyes only to stare through a thick layer of dark fog. Upon opening his mouth to yell out, Takumi realised that he was gagged as well, lying on his side on a cold, smooth surface. He tried to move, but he soon found his hands bound behind his back. Takumi realised he was trapped, held against his will somewhere he didn't know. What happened to Shingyoji-kun, Misu-kun, and everyone else? A worried Takumi thought as he tried to swallow his uneasiness.

Footsteps approached him, but the only comfort he received from that knowledge was that he still had his sense of hearing left to rely on.

"What did I tell you about treating our guest nicely, Michihiro-kun, Iichi-kun?"

".. Sorry, Uzuki-san."

The footsteps stopped a little in front of him, silencing the soft mumbling in the background Takumi just picked up. It was an unfamiliar voice which spoke in a relaxed, almost lazy manner. Takumi heard several names being called out, but he was too confused to try to remember them; he then felt something nudge him in his side, and by reflex he tried to shy away from the touch.

"Oh, so you're already awake," the voice continued cheerfully, as though oblivious to Takumi's discomfort.

A gentle touch stroked his cheeks, causing Takumi to jerk back rudely. However, the pair of advancing hands did not stop; a moment later, much to Takumi's surprise, the gag stuffed into his mouth was released.

Takumi found himself coughing violently, with moisture which was undeniably saliva spilling from his tired, unaturally stretched lips. He half expected his blindfold to be removed as well, but it seems his company had decided he had been given enough release.

"Where-" Takumi forced out, once his lips could handle talking again.

"You don't have to know," the voice cut him off in an instant reply, sounding mildly entertained. "I regret having you brought here by force, Hayama-san, but your bodyguards left us no space to even converse with you," he finished with a chuckle.

"I mean, it was a little hard to anticipate your schedule and to tail you, but fortunately we were given that little chance by your friend Shingyoji," Takumi could tell that the speaker was getting more and more excited as he continued, and he frowned at how Shingyoji-kun was mentioned. "He played his part splendidly, for someone as stupid as him."

Takumi was taken aback at the insult. "Eh? His part?" he questioned, not liking the direction this conversation was taking.

"What did you do to Shingyoji-kun?" _And why insult him like that-_

"It's not like we actually did anything. It was more like.. Yes, like preparing a fire?" the speaker chuckled in enjoyment . "We only had Shingyoji to be at the right place at the right time, and had Toshihisa-san hear some promising development that never actually happened.. Not to mention Arata-san was a great help with the spark.. Wouldn't you agree, Hayama-san?"

The fear Takumi had been feeling all these while turned straight into anger for this unnamed speaker, and the slender boy pursed his lips tight to stop himself from bursting out. These people.. They didn't understand anything, they didn't want to understand, and they just went ahead and made use of Toshihisa like that.. Hurting Misu-kun and Shingyoji-kun's relationship..

"It had been a good show.."

Takumi stiffened, his breath harsh against the cold floor as he fought against the anger threatening to burst out of his trapped frame. The speaker fell silent as well, as though watching him for his reaction.

The long minute's worth of silence was long and uncomfortable.

"So what do you need me for, causing such unnecessary problems to my friends just to bring me over in this state?" Takumi blurted out in anger, when he realised there was nothing he could say.

"Rumours had it that you were an indirect person, but I see that rumours had it wrong." This was said with a sneer.

"I don't really care about rumours," snapped Takumi. "What do you need me for?" he repeated irritably, fueled by his agitation by his company's attitude, and his helpless situation.

"Good. I'm not a patient person, either."

Takumi heard a click of one's tongue, and almost yelled out as he felt a pair of hands grip firmly onto his shoulder, dragging him from the floor. Before he knew it, he was slammed against the wall, and was left to lean heavily against it as pain wrecked through his frame.

"I want your cooperation," the voice had came very close, so close that Takumi could feel the speaker's breath on his face. He turned automatically, shying from the proximity, only to have the speaker grab his chin firmly with a sweaty hand, forcing him to look straight ahead.

"If you don't want anything to happen to yourself, or Saki-senpai, we want you to get us his attention."

* * *

Shingyoji ran, without direction nor destination. He ran as though his life depended on it, as though the further the distance he could put between himself and Arata-san, the more he could dull this painful feeling that was bursting out from his chest.

Shingyoji realised he had crossed the line he had drawn for himself.

In this strict, isolated school, where Shingyoji had opted to flee to away from his own situation at home, Arata-san had been like a lighthouse for him in his journey through this storm. Their relationship is like a projection of their first meeting; no matter how slight or vague the older boy's actions have been, Arata-san had always shown him a different kind of kindness, just like how he had the first time Shingyoji had seen him from inside the examination hall.

Then, even though Arata-san had changed so suddenly since they first met, even though Arata-san had always kept him at a distance with those cruel insults and straight-forward denial, Shingyoji never found himself outwardly pushed away by the older boy. They knew they could not say that their relationship was balanced, but it worked for the both of them.

Shingyoji had realised that all he needed to do, was to continue caring for Arata-san, and never to question his actions. All he should do was to just dream but not desire, when it involved Arata-san.

Because Shingyoji had always believed that with time, and love, he could be the one to melt Arata-san's heart, which had always been as cold as its owner's actions.

That was the line he had drawn for himself.

As he ran, Shingyoji vaguely noted that he could no longer tell where he was going. Surrounding him was a converse of blended colours, blurred by the persistent tears in his eyes. Stopping to raise his hands to wipe away those clingy moisture roughly, Shingyoji finally gave himself enough time to catch his breath.

He had ran out of the compound of school buildings, all the way down into the forested path that led out to the outside world.

As he recovered, Shingyoji knew he should continue running, but his legs wouldn't listen. He was hesitating, his feelings threatening to overcome his logic.

Maybe.. Just maybe, Arata-san had chased him all the way out. Maybe, just maybe, the older boy might catch up to him, hold him down, and demand that he listen. Maybe, just maybe..

Only upon turning around to face the deserted dirt road he had just ran through did Shingyoji realised that he shouldn't had turned around after all.

He had crossed the line he drew yet again. Instead of only imagining it, he hoped for it.

Fighting against the new tears welled up in his eyes, Shingyoji bit down on his lip in frustration, and continued running away from where he had came from. He had to get away from this denial and disappointment, physically first. Then, maybe he could have the strength to deal with the emotional turmoil later.

So, he ran, his heavy steps harsh against the dirt path. Had it started raining? No, it was just his tears pouring down his face. His surroundings were once again a blur of colours, and his limbs were starting to feel numb from the cold..

Shingyoji ran, and ran, until he ran into a tree.

He guessed it was a tree, because it was hard, and it stayed firm even after being ran into by him at such a speed; but what was a tree doing in the middle of the dirt path, and why was the tree sky-blue in colour? Wiping his eyes hastily, Shingyoji looked up from where he had fallen from the impact, and found himself staring straight at the person who had been wrecking through his heart and mind the whole while he ran.

Misu eyed the boy who had just ran into him with a raised brow, his hands slowly planting themselves in the pockets of his school blazer. He had to push Shingyoji back with both his hands to prevent the younger boy from running them both over, and who knew what else he could've ran into should he had continued without being stopped by Misu himself. The result was that Shingyoji had been pushed onto the ground, but that was at least better than letting an idiot like him bulldoze through other students possibly strolling on the dirt path.

Shingyoji looked like he was going to throw up, or faint, or do both while he was at it.

This thought brought a small smile to Misu's face.

But, to Shingyoji, that looked nothing like a smile. That looked like a smirk.

Gasping, scrambling to pick himself up from the ground, Shingyoji forced his eyes away from Misu, and turned to run away again.

"Wait."

Shingyoji could almost not believe what he had heard. He wanted to turn around, to confirm it, but his mind told him it would be better if he hadn't; that he should run, far far away from here.

His body tensed as he prepared to flee..

"When I tell you to wait, you will do so. You're my property, aren't you? Shingyoji."

He could no longer deny that it was indeed Arata-san who had spoken, not some voice he had conjured from the depths of his heart.

The tension he had been feeling was released in an instant, and it didn't matter that he was not looking at Arata-san, because Shingyoji knew that the older boy would understand how he felt. If Arata-san had bothered to chase after him, and over taking him, that means..

"Arata.. san.."_ You do care.. Right?_

"Misu! Shingyoji-kun!"

Before Shingyoji could get a reply from Arata-san, a voice called out to the both of them from somewhere further behind, and both boys raised their heads in that direction despite their situation. This was nothing that they would let anyone else see.

Not to their surprise, they found Toshihisa emerging from behind some trees, panting heavily as he held onto his sides while running.

"I-I'm sorry, Shingyoji-kun!"

"No no, it's okay.."

"Everything is fine, Katakura. Shingyoji said he just needed some extreme exercise."

"Eh?" stunned, this was all Toshihisa could say, as he looked at Misu, who had his signature smirk at his lips.

Shingyoji looked away from the other two boys, struggling to keep himself from retorting Arata-san's ridiculous excuse.

"Maa.. Well, it's good to see that everyone's okay.." Toshihisa finally sighed, having still not understood what had went on between the other two before he arrived. "We just need to wait for Takumi to join us, then, before we head back together.."

"?" Both Misu and Shingyoji looked up at Toshihisa at the exact same time.

"Katakura. You mean to say Hayama wasn't with you the whole while?"

"I left the room before he did, but I expected him to chase after Shingyoji-kun as well, so.."

Upon hearing Toshihisa's words, Misu's brows furrowed with worry. He broke straight into a run towards the school dormitories without a word, leaving Toshihisa and Shingyoji behind.

"Come on Toshihisa-san, we have to get back too!" Shingyoji reacted next, and pulled Toshihisa along by his hand.

"Wha-"

"Hayama-san might be in trouble!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Syozo gazed into the make-shift lecture room through its length-wide glass windows, his eyes trained on the pair of father and son seated the entire meeting table's length away. Adjusting the degree-less glasses resting on his nose unconsciously, Syozo looked away with a sigh.

Sitting rigid at the end of the table closer to where Syozo stood was Saki Giichi, his face fierce with concentration, his pen never once pausing as he took notes of his father's lecture. Even so, his eyes betrayed the fact that he was trying to cram the lesson into his head even before he took them down in minutes, his lips pursed in determination.

In school, lessons were more like revision sessions to Gii, who would always read ahead into their syllabus. Sometimes, Gii would revise along with the lesson, but more often, he would be doing his own studies; his marks were more than proof for his actions to be allowed in school, and as such, Gii was rarely seen serious when it came to work. The last time Syozo saw Gii this serious, was when Gii told him that he was in love with Takumi.

It had been a while since Syozo last saw this serious look on Gii's face.

_"I've decided, Syozo. May I ask for your company again this time?"_

_"I'm good and all, but why the formal note, Gii?_

_"I just.. wanted to be sure."_

Right after the quick goodbye with Hayama and everyone else, Gii had Syozo and himself enter the sedan he had inherited, which was just another property under his name he never spoke about. The chauffeur brought them out of the mountains and straight to one of the many mansions that the Saki family owns, particularly a summer house that Master Saki was staying at right now before he departed for another conference in another Prefecture in Japan.

_"What a surprise, Giichi." Master Saki had said immediately after they entered the room, in a tone that hinted he already knew the purpose of today's visit anyway._

_Gii looked at his father with a fierce look regardless, but did not reply immediately._

_"And this would be.." Gii's father continued, studying Syozo with a piercing look as he glanced from his son to the latter._

_"Akaike Syozo, my best friend at school," Gii replied quickly, throwing a quick look at Syozo._

_"Ah, Syozo of Akaike Corporation?"_

_Syozo and Gii both nodded, but they did not elaborate further. It didn't seem like there was a need to, and Gii had told Syozo before hand to not talk unless needed._

_"I came to ask for your-"_

_"Did you not bring your partner along? Your boyfriend, that is."_

_So, he already knew. However, Gii expected that too._

It had been a long talk about the future, the company, consequences and responsibilities. Gii's father was an accepting man underneath his strict character, but owing to the fact that Gii was the sole successor of his company, he was little less than willing to accept the situation. Even so he tried to understand; for Gii, there was still room for negotiation with his father.

_"I won't let the Saki family line die down with me. Even if I have to.. I will have a child with my blood in his veins, if that is what it takes for me to be able to stay with Takumi."_

For Master Saki, who had viewed the relationship as an impulse of the moment, a rush of feelings that had no other release, that was the turning point; for Gii to consider that far into the future for the sake of the relationship.

His only condition was to only properly approve of the relationship when Gii was ready to take over the company - hence the sudden schedule of father-to-son lessons, to serve as preparing Gii to enter the society as the Chairman of the company when he graduates from Shidou Academy. Today was the first - even though Gii had only visited with the intentions of informing his father. Thankfully, he had his school bag and stationery with him.

From the start, it didn't seem to be a need for Syozo's presence after all, Syozo concluded. Maybe, Gii wanted him there as a witness. Or maybe, Gii needed him there as a support.

He just wasn't sure how he felt about that, Syozo thought with a small smile.

* * *

For a long minute of silence, while his mind ignored all the pain his body had felt just a moment ago, Takumi stayed stunned on the spot as his head was being held in place by a thin, sweaty hand. He could not believe his ears, nor the person before him who had uttered what he thought was the most childish demand he had ever heard. He could still see nothing, but even without seeing, he could image the boy talking to him clearly in his head - proud, probably smirking, and believing that his views and actions were justified.

Takumi had expected a cause of greater importance, to justify the pain his friends were put through, but it didn't even come close; this was way too unexpected. A series of childish actions from a group of childish boys fighting for attention - that was the truth behind this whole event. Frowning beneath his blindfold, Takumi pursed his lips in displeasure.

The hand gripping his chin refused to release him, and the pain he received from the blow against the wall just now had gradually returned. Even so, even though he was technically held captive, he longer saw the need to reply or to even entertain these selfish schoolmates of his.

The long moment of silence dragged on.

As if able to read through Takumi's thoughts, and feeling irritated about it, Takumi's company tightened his hold on Takumi. This move made the captured boy wince badly in pain, and caused him to struggle against the hold in fear. The fear of being trapped stiff without being able to escape and his inability to rely on his sense of sight was suffocating, and it brought out a fresh wave of panic scrambling through Takumi's mind. A dull buzzing flooded his ears, and it took the third year a long while to realise that it was the rush of his blood through his veins, blocking out all other sounds.

"Take off his blindfold."

Then in the next moment, much to his surprise, Takumi found himself staring straight into a pair of bright, narrowed eyes, being able to finally see as the blindfold around his head was tugged off roughly by someone standing somewhere by his side.

Takumi wanted to look away immediately, but the hand holding his head in place was far stronger than he was. In the room dimly lit by its thick glass windows, Takumi realised that he was staring nose to nose at an unfamiliar face, probably a freshman that he had never yet met before.

He could not remember the younger's name, mentioned only once since he regained consciousness.

He must have looked shocked, or frightened, or maybe both; Takumi saw the expression on the younger boy's face soften from its original shaken disbelief into gradual relief; then, the corners of the freshman's lips jerked up into a bemused smirk.

"What would your answer be, Hayama-san?"

The younger boy must have regained his composure upon seeing Takumi's distress, and he was still smirking at Takumi with a raised brow, obviously expecting an answer.

"I-" Takumi breathed. It was hard to speak with his chin held unmovable, and he hoped his glare aimed straight at the boy who still held onto him so could get the message through. However, Takumi realised he was unable to convey his thoughts over to the other, when the latter remained completely oblivious to his condition. That, or he was just enjoying seeing Takumi suffer.

"I have nothing to say to you," the third year finally forced out a reply through gritted teeth.

"Oh? But it's rude for you to reject our intentions so quickly, without first hearing what you'll be missing out on," the younger boy continued easily, his free right hand finding its way onto Takumi's shoulder. With a sharp gasp, Takumi stiffened as he felt the advances, but he could do nothing to shrug away the touch.

"Wh-What-"

A short flashback, accompanied by a sharp stab of fear, shot through his mind. The disgusted feeling of being touched when he didn't want to be welled up in his throat, and briefly Takumi thought he would suddenly throw up. Perhaps it would have been better if he indeed could throw up in this freshman's face. The phobia of human contact that Gii had tried so hard to cure for both their sake was returning; before Takumi realised, he was shivering madly, his mind rejecting without being able to fight back.

"Ii-i-yada.. S-St-Stop.."

The freshmen ignored the weak protest, his right hand moving slowly but steadily towards Takumi's neck. At the same time, his left hand moved away from Takumi's face and changed to grip the older boy's tie, but even with the temporary release, Takumi could not even try to break free using the gap.

"So the reports were right about you and your _traumatic experiences_, Hayama-san."

Takumi knew he could not run. He did not even had the strength to fight back a single move made by the first year.

"Perhaps you would listen to what I have to say, now?"

The older boy nodded once, stiffly, his mind a complete blank, hoping that the touch on his neck would be withdrawn.

He was no longer looking at the freshman because he had his eyes fixed on the floor, but even so he could tell that the smirk on the latter's face had widened upon seeing him submit.

"Owing to that _traumatic experience_, Hayama-san, you've had a certain fear of physical contact with other people until last year."

It was a mere statement of fact, not a question nor a confirmation. Even so, Takumi nodded numbly, but the fingers dancing up his throat did not stop.

"Surely it feels _horrifying_, being touch like this by someone apart from Saki-senpai.."

The freshman continued, his hand slowly loosening Takumi's school tie before pulling it off entirely, while he ran his fingernails down Takumi's neck. He noticed Takumi's trembling increase in magnitude, and laughed to show his approval.

"So, Hayama-san. How about we make a deal?"

The first year withdrew very suddenly, leaving Takumi to gasp and fear the sudden stop to his advances. Still shivering, Takumi looked up at his torturer slowly with frightful eyes that clearly screamed for the latter to continue speaking, so that he would not come attacking him again.

"It wouldn't just benefit us if you offered your help, Hayama-san," the freshman laughed again as he fiddled with the school tie he had removed so skillfully. Takumi found himself staring at the sky blue tie in disbelief; he had not even felt it leave his neck. That was how affected he had been by the touch of someone else, apart from Gii.

"I can almost understand why Saki-senpai chose to keep you by his side as a play-thing, Hayama-san. Even though you're older than me, you're so obedient and playable that it's cute."

Still breathless and weak from the first year's attacks, Takumi could not even look away, let alone gather the strength to brush off that comment.

"My father's company- Our fathers' companies, businesses, which in turn would be ours one day, could be of use to Saki-senpai. Surely you can't deny that, Hayama-san."

Takumi winced trying to sit up from where he had crumpled onto the ground when he was released, leaning heavily against the wall again. This guy, he was trying to get him to buy his selfish viewpoint - there was no way he would listen and follow to it blindly. But in his situation..

"All we ask for, is a chance for Saki-senpai to recognise us for our talents and worth. In return, we promise we will do nothing to sabotage your relationship with Saki-senpai, and we would lay our hands off Saki-senpai and yourself from then onwards."

"It's more than killing two birds with one stone, Hayama-san! Wouldn't you agree?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Peering into the room again, Syozo felt his breath leave in a slow sigh of ease; it seems like they were done for the day, as Master Saki sat in his seat sipping tea from his tea cup, and Gii was already tidying his notes. A moment later, the hazel-haired boy exited the room, and echoed Syozo in a deep sigh of relief.

"How do you feel?" Syozo asked, resting a hand on the taller boy's shoulders as he approached.

"Completely stressed out," replied Gii, laughing without a smile as he steered them both towards the door.

They exited the mansion together, deep in discussion about the events that had just happened. Apparently the next session was scheduled later in the month, when Master Saki next had time. Syozo was invited to join them in the session this time if he was up to it, Gii informed him.

"What, no company secrets?" laughed Syozo casually as they stopped at the foyer for their ride back to school.

"It's more like life lessons, for now," Gii smiled along, more relaxed now that he was out of his father's physical circle of influence.

"Will you be letting Hamaya know about this?"

It was like a mood dampener, but Syozo knew he had to ask.

".. No. Takumi doesn't need to feel stressed up about things like this, not when he's still in school."

"You're still in school yourself."

"It's for the sake of our future."

".."

Syozo realised that Gii was caring for Hayama in a unique way; just like his character, he preferred handling things on his own, ironing out the issues before his partner could feel worried or saddened by them. If he had the power, Syozo was sure that Gii would have loved to shield Hayama from the whole world, its cruelty and its critics.

However, this was not a perfect solution. While Gii forced himself to face the world in Hayama's stead, to shield Hayama by leaving him behind, he often left Hayama struggling to keep strong during the times he was away; even if it was temporary, the distance had grave impacts on a sensitive, imaginative and over-reacting Hayama.

Only thinking so did Syozo realised that, this was the root of all their problems since last year, where Gii had tried to play cupid without first letting Hayama understand. It was not that Gii had not trusted Hayama; perhaps he did not see the need to inform his lover beforehand.

However, while Gii was a person who operated on conclusions based on logic, Hayama was a person who acted by first feeling from his heart. There was nothing wrong with them both - Syozo realised that they only needed to start communicating, start letting their own lover understand their thinking.

Considering how to break this to Gii since this was something his best friend should know, Syozo's train of thoughts were disturbed by Gii's handphone ringing as they boarded Gii's sedan.

"Saki,"

In a silent space of the sedan, Misu Arata's breathless voice was crystal clear even off loudspeaker.

"Misu? What's wrong?" Gii replied quickly, bolting up from his seat. They had exchanged numbers shortly after all of them agreed to help guard Hayama in turns, but it was still a surprise to have Misu-kun calling Gii. Syozo could tell he was getting anxious, and he grew worried as well.

"Hayama," Misu breathed, and through the phone they could even tell he was running. The sound of Misu's steps were loud, ringing in the wide, empty space of the sedan. "Get back, quick. We're trying to find him."

The line went dead, and Gii almost dropped the phone as he was stunned.

"Quick, rush straight to the school please!" Syozo hurried the chauffeur, and threw a quick look at Gii to find that his best friend had slurred back into his seat, his eyes squeezed shut together in pain.

_Takumi.._

* * *

Takumi breathed heavily, trying to avert his gaze from the freshman, his eyes wide with despair. In his head he tried summoning his memories of Gii's big smile and comforting touch, but his feeble attempts could not help ease the sense of helplessness and fear in his heart. He knew he was in a powerless situation, forcefully isolated and unable to call for anyone, pinned down by his phobia of human contact.

Never before have Takumi hated his condition any more than he did at this moment.

Because he realised that if Gii were to find him in this situation, Gii would be saddened. Takumi knew that his lover would blame it all on himself, thinking that he was the one who exposed Takumi to such dangerous situations.

He never wanted to see _that_ tortured expression on Gii's face again.

The only thing he could do now is to do everything in his power to turn this situation around, or to at least free himself from here. Ironically, he still was offered one decision to make - one that will determine everything.

_"All we ask for, is a chance for Saki-senpai to recognise us for our talents and worth. In return, we promise we will do nothing to sabotage your relationship with Saki-senpai, and we would lay our hands off Saki-senpai and yourself from then onwards."_

Takumi did not understand the whole commotion about Gii and his father's company or their property and wealth, apart from the fact that Gii had been a handsome, young bachelor of high social standing. He concluded, considering from Gii's position, that there must have been a reason why Gii had tried rejecting these freshman right from the start.

Perhaps it was something beneath the surface, like politics or hidden rules in the business scene. Takumi would not possibly understand these, so Gii would not have thought of talking about or explaining them. However, if he were to just look on the surface.. Gii's rejection simply meant that he didn't need these freshman, nor the connections they offer.

In the end Takumi realised that this was not a decision for him to make in the first place. The decision he could, and have made, was to stay faithful to his love for Gii no matter what.

At this warm thought, courage seeped through his body like the pulsing blood in his veins, giving him the strength to raise his chin again.

_I should get to know their names first_, was Takumi's first thought.

".. At least.. Let me know your name first," the third year half mumbled.

"Hnn?"

Squaring his shoulders even though his hands were still tied together, Takumi gazed steadily at the first years in front of him, particularly at the one who had been doing all the talking so far. "I was thinking," he repeated in a slightly stronger voice, "I should at least get to know your names first."

The freshmen must have thought that he was going to agree with them without further resistance, and were asking for their names to be mentioned in front of Gii or something; because the boy standing right up front glanced at the others before turning back to face him, and said,

"Fine, then. I'm Uzuki - Tasei Uzuki of Tasei Corporation. This is Soreshi Michihiro-kun from Taiyou Foods, and Nakazoto Iichi-kun of Nakazoto Sounds.. Here's Kikyoya Tooga-kun of Gofuku Company.. and this is Tsumori Kiyohasu-kun from Hino Building," gesturing towards each of the first years now approaching them both. Takumi tried hard to remember each of their names as he watched the boys approaching and stopping in a loose semi-circle around himself and the freshman who had introduced himself as Tasei Uzuki.

"Jyaa, Uzuki-kun," Takumi sighed, and spoke as sincerely as he could. "I.. I don't agree with what you have said. Besides, you don't have to do something like this to get Gii's attention.."

There was nothing they could possibly do to him, Takumi thought.

"Huh?" a couple of the first years immediately exclaimed; one of them, whom Takumi believed was called Iichi-kun, even raised his hands to his mouth in alarm.

"Did I hear you correctly, Hayama-san?" Slowly, the Uzuki-kun who had grabbed him just now returned and squatted right in front of Takumi, as though challenging Takumi to look him straight in the eyes - which Takumi did.

"I said I don't agree," Takumi breathed, and repeated steadily.

With what was unmistakenably the sound of metal scrapping swiftly against metal, Takumi saw Uzuki-kun draw out the blade of a swiss army knife he withdrew; the sharp edge was quickly pressed against Takumi's neck, and the third year could feel it with every breath he took.

"This is your last chance to change your mind, Hayama-san," shaken by Takumi's persistence in disagreeing with him, Uzuki-kun finally managed in a somewhat calm voice, after another agonizing minute of prolonged silence. The other first years who had surrounded them before had slowly retreated back into the shadows of the room, but Takumi could only focus his attention on Uzuki-kun and the sharp blade he was threatening him with.

Takumi tried, but even though his trembling lips were already parted, he could not even utter a single word in response to the cold blade held against this throat.

"Hayama-san, I can't hear your answer.."

Gulping, also feeling his skin lightly scrapping against the sharp edge of the knife dangerously, Takumi squeezed his eyes shut. _I just have to repeat my answer again! It's okay.. He cannot do anything to me while we're still in school.. I'll be alright.._ Takumi tried to calm himself by convincing himself so.

Also, beneath the fear he felt from being threatened by a first year for Gii's attention, Takumi felt anger - anger directed at himself for not being able to fight back. He should at least be able to do something, to stop these first years from acting wrongly on impulse, yet here he was, paralyzed with fear, unable to defend neither himself nor the first years..

"N-N-No.. I still d-don't agree!" Takumi finally voiced out, with a shaky note at first. However, as he continued, he somehow found enough courage to speak up his mind. "N-no matter what, violence is against the school rules and you can get expelled if you-"

"You still don't agree?"

Uzuki-kun, who had interupted Takumi, seem to have entirely ignored everything else Takumi had said after hearing his refusal. However when Takumi saw his eyes, staring forward blankly in disbelief at first, turn to study him with a foreign but dangerous gleam in them, he knew something was seriously wrong.

"Then you leave me with no choice.."

The knife at his throat slided down carefully, teasing his tensed skin before slicing cleanly through the white long sleeve shirt of his uniform.

* * *

(**Alert! D:)** Vivid descriptions in a mature scene ahead. Skip the next chapter if you must!

Review to let me know how you feel about the story so far? XD  
Thank you for reading! (^w^)


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Takumi's eyes flew wide open in rude startlement, choked by Uzuki-kun's sudden, unexpected act. It felt like his mind was working through a slough, struggling to comprehend the situation he was in at the slowest speed possible. He still had his school blazer on, and even though his tie had been snatched away, it shouldn't feel so cooling up front.. Shock, confusion, fear and despair; they rushed up his throat in an outburst, but were held back at his choking point to the extent that it had started to hurt..

Until he felt a pair of fingers, moist with sweat, stroke down his bare chest little more than gently.

The world seemed to have stopped spinning as his mind abruptly stopped trying to understand, and the briefest flashback surfaced in his consciousness - the white sheets of his own bed, a pair of hands bigger than his own exploring the lines of his naked body; but before his mind could react, Takumi's frame tensed and did all it could - to put some distance between himself and Uzuki-kun, to lash out completely with his legs still bound at his ankles, sending the first year right in front of him flying straight into rows of tables and chest with a kick straight to his chest.

The crash was deafening, and following the startled, or frightened gasps that sounded from each of the freshmen was a silence that sank the atmosphere in the room straight beneath the freezing point.

"Sorry- I didn't- didn't mean anything mean by that.."

Takumi jerked in shock, realising the degree of damage he had caused to the situation. In a weak, shaky voice he tried to explain his actions, but was silenced by a pernicious glare, shot straight at him from Uzuki-kun, his voice fading into nothingness in despair.

It had been an action that could never be taken back.

And Uzuki-kun's glare told him that the younger boy wanted to hurt him back, real badly.

No one moved; not even one of the first years rushed forward to help their leader, because the assaulted boy had suddenly, and was steadily exuding a diabolic, murderous aura that seemed to send waves of chill right through everyone's frame, freezing everyone on the spot.

Takumi's hands were still tied firmly behind himself, but his shoulders had sagged; all the strength in his body had left him as he stared, helplessly, at the crumpled figure pulling himself out of his embarrassing, almost humiliating state of being sent tumbling into the once neat arrangement of furniture for a class in the music room. Only vaguely realising that he had been brought to the favourite Concert Hall of his scheduled for demolition soon, Takumi tried but was unable to break his gaze from being locked with Uzuki-kun's.

Previously trapped without his vision, he had been wrong about being thrown against a wall - Takumi realised only as he found himself unable to back away anymore, with his back against a pillar right beside the raised platform of a stage.

Within the silent minute Uzuki-kun had stood up, although he was unable to draw himself to his full height, pain unmistakably still present in his frame.

"Uzuki.. san.." a small voice, issued from the boy standing closest to Uzuki, spoke out and caught everyone's attention - even Uzuki's, who turned to pierce through the small boy with the same deadly glare. Even Takumi could tell that the boy, named Iichi-kun if he hadn't remembered wrongly, was the weakest link of the group; they watched as he fidgeted, before he managed to squeak, ".. Are you.. Alright, Uzuki.. san..?"

"Shut up," Uzuki growled, his face contorted with pain and rage. "Shut up!"

Humiliation had worked its way through Uzuki's mind like fire through dry grass; it had overpowered every ounce of logic the freshman could have tried to argue with, and it was fuelling his rage like never before. Never before had he been insulted like this - he had to get even, no, he had to return that insult.. With twice as much pain as he had felt.

The rest of the first years fell back further, shying away further. Iichi-kun stayed on the spot, swaying as though he wanted to approach Uzuki-san, and to run away at the same time. Takumi tried to inch away as well, but a wave of pain rushed through his frame as he tried to move his shoulder; the pain from being thrown against the pillar still haunted his body.

"You, go lock the door-" still staring at the trembling Iichi-kun, Uzuki commanded in a harsh, deep voice, and then turned to glare at the others. "Get lost. All of you- OUT!" he yelled, pointing at the door, his enraged voice echoing through the silent music room.

The rest of the freshmen, Iichi-kun included, did not need to be told twice.

"No don't.." in a small voice Takumi pleaded, but the first years were too busy removing themselves from the room to notice; none of them wanted to be left alone with Uzuki-san in his current state.

_Don't go.. Don't leave me alone.._

_Gii.._

It had been a long moment, and the third year had his eyes fixed on the door as he watched it swung into its frame; he failed to notice as Uzuki-kun approached him. Only when he was dragged upwards from the ground by the gathered fabric of his uniform, with a strength that dug his collar painfully into his neck, did Takumi find himself gasping in shock and pain, staring face to face with Uzuki-kun. The said first year was finally standing upright, and the result was that Takumi could barely touch the ground. Even with their age difference, Takumi was significantly shorter than the other when they both stood at full height.

Held by his uniform and almost entirely lifted off the ground, Takumi felt himself being dragged towards the elevated front of the classroom, and cried out in pain as he was thrown roughly onto the piano, his knees slamming hard into the piano bench.

Without giving the third year a chance to catch his breath, Uzuki towered over him and practically started tearing off his clothes, also tugging free the ropes binding Takumi, the binds that had been impossible For Takumi to shrug out of. The ripping of cloth was drowned by Takumi's frightened yells, but the older male was silenced almost immediately by the aggravated slaps he received all over his shoulders, back, and waist. By the time Uzuki-kun had ripped off the last bit of his clothing, Takumi was reduced to a trembling, bare mess of balled-up limbs on the piano bench, his widened eyes staring ahead without seeing, his lips quivering as they worded the name of a single person he wanted to be saved by from this.

The lack of resistance did not stop the younger male's actions; Uzuki grabbed Takumi by the neck again to pull him up, his other hand moving to position Takumi's limbs the way he wanted, only to have Takumi obey like a lifeless doll - kneeling on his knees on the piano bench, Takumi fell forward naturally until his elbows hit the piano keys with inharmonious notes. This time, the shock which wrecked through his frame could not even jerk him out of the nightmare-like memories he kept seeing beneath his closed lids every time he blinked.

Oblivious to Takumi's state, Uzuki's manhood hardened immediately upon taking in the scene before him, a result of the erotic position Takumi was put in.

Without even bothering to drop his own pants, Uzuki released his dick - already wet at its tip with excitement - and slammed it straight into Takumi's unprepared hole, earning him a sharp cry from the latter at the sudden penetration. Pausing only for the briefest moment to enjoy the intense, incredible feeling of being squeezed by Takumi's dry, still tensed walls, Uzuki started thrusting; and once he started, he couldn't stop.

Even before he had entered Shidou Academy Uzuki had have sex before, with women who were hungry for his attention, his fame or his family's fortune - but this was different. He might have been disgusted by a male-on-male intercourse before, but this was nothing he had expected - this was nothing he had tried to imagine. This pain drowned in pleasure, power with dominance.. This was something Uzuki had never felt with a woman, something he never had up till now.

Before he knew it, Uzuki had his fingers biting into Takumi's slender, almost unhealthily slim waist; he was thrusting deeper and deeper into the older male each time.

It only served to leave him desperate for more.

Takumi screamed and sobbed every other time he was slammed into from behind, but his attacker was deaf to his powerless. In his heart Takumi cried, again and again, and begged for Gii to come - but before his prayers could be answered, he would sink into a nightmare he was almost unable to free himself from, only to be jolted out of it by the pain that tore through his frame from his hole, still tensed and tight even with the crazed penetration.

The feeling of isolated helplessness hit him every time he was being slammed into.

Takumi knew he was drifting in and out of consciousness; except it made no real difference now. When he was conscious, he was fully aware of himself being violated; he could feel Uzuki-kun's hot, urgent breaths raining on his back with every thrust made, and he could feel himself being filled up by someone he was disgusted by. When he closed his eyes, however, he found himself trapped underneath the strong, firm frame of his older brother back then, his legs parted against his will, his eyes blinded by the flow of tears that could not be stopped.

He could almost not tell which the real nightmare was anymore.

Before he knew it, he too was crying in reality, and his warm tears fell drop by drop onto his clenched fists as he cried out loud in agony.

When it finally stopped, Takumi knew not whether he should feel relief, or fear for more to come.

Uzuki came earlier than he had ever done, earlier than he had expected, or wanted; he pulled out with a strange squish. Takumi cried out at the sudden release, and whimpered when he almost fell off the piano bench, as Uzuki-kun's grasp on him weakened. He did not even have the strength to raise his head, let alone shift from this humiliating position he had been put in.

He was weakened to the point where he needed Uzuki-kun's support to prevent his limp, wasted frame from toppling over.

It seemed like the younger boy was considering along the same lines, because Takumi soon realised that Uzuki-kun had stepped away, just a step away from him entirely. His body swayed dangerously as he trembled, and his parted knees shivered before they finally buckled under his own weight.. And Takumi fell heavily, landing first on his right arm then coming to a rest onto his side, into the space between the piano and its bench.

With the crazed, joyous laughter that reached his ears, Takumi's frame went limp entirely as he lost all hopes of being rescued from this nightmare. His eyes stared ahead blankly, until he could see nothing but a blur of colours as a tear drop escaped from the corner of his eye, and fell silently onto the cold, wooden floor.

Uzuki reached forward and easily pulled the piano bench away to reveal the fallen figure of Takumi - With excitement, Uzuki studied his senior, his skin flushed and covered in a thin layer of sweat, his eyelids fluttering as pain rushed through his already-tortured frame. More importantly he noticed that Takumi's dick was limp after all these while, and he found a smirk at his lips regardless. It didn't matter to him.

It had not been his aim to pleasure his partner in the first place - he had wanted to hurt the older boy, and he _did_, and he found himself enraptured in the process.

Stretching out a hand and running it through Takumi's long, hazel strands of hair, Uzuki soon found himself tugging at a fistful of it violently, threatening to lift the older boy up this way. Takumi whimpered as his scalp was tugged at harshly, tears welling up in his eyes once more as he bit back his cries.

That pitiful expression of Takumi's was more than enough to get his manhood excited again, and he had stamina for more.

_Time for round two_, the younger boy laughed arrogantly as he tensed his arm to pull Takumi up.

* * *

Firstly.. Maya, Happy Belated Birthday! :)  
And Rovenus.. Thank you so much for your review. Really made my day, along with legends'. (: I think you've disabled the mailing function for your profile, cause I can't seem to find the button to send a message to you.. But regardless, thank you so much for reading this story.

And No.. I did not just do that..  
Oh wait.. I did.. -headdesk- I feel bad. Please don't kill me.  
Reviews please? Pretty please with a cherry on top!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Speeding towards the secluded site of Shidou Academy, Syozo and Gii soon returned to within the school compound earlier than they had imagined possible, courtesy to Gii's chauffeur. Even so, even before the chauffeur could bring the sedan to a safe stop, Syozo found himself watching helplessly as Gii threw himself out of the still-moving car; the latter pausing only slightly to steady himself before dashing off towards the dormitory building.

Gii had suggested he search the dormitories for the first years they were suspicious of, first, since he was familiar with their room numbers; Syozo would head to their classroom to do the same. Directing the chauffeur to bring their stuff back to their respective rooms so that they wouldn't be burdened with their bags while running, Syozo alighted and started towards the main building of the school at a quick pace, hands clenched into fists.

He could understand Gii's anxiety and desperate need to confirm Hayama's safety, but his actions had been reckless and possibly dangerous - and he knew Gii only lapses into this careless haste of his when things involved Hayama and his well-being.

Things were getting out of hand again.

But whatever- now, the only important thing was to confirm Hayama's situation. And safety.

Jogging hurriedly in the direction of the center building, Syozo kept his ears attentive, trying to sieve out information that might be useful, be it mere rumours or otherwise (desperate times calls for desperate measures). As he strode up the steps up front, he reached into his pocket and fished out his handphone at the same time. The wisest thing he could think of doing right now was to inform a teacher - any teacher, or Matsumoto-sensei if the elder could be reached; but it seemed like he should not waste time to purposely go searching for a staff right now when they were all pretty much clueless to Hayama's position..

Vaguely, Syozo wondered what had Hayama and Gii done to himself - hastiness and recklessness were never traits of his character. This had to be the first time he was feeling this agitated in a long while.

Syozo had paced past half of the main hall of their school's center building when he was pushed against roughly, being knocked into head-first by someone of a smaller build than he had.

Snapping out of his thoughts, the third year glanced down to glare at whoever had ran into him, barely noting the other party's face - there was no time he could waste on issues like this! Confirming in a quick glance that the other party seemed to be uninjured, Syozo mumbled a quiet (and rather insincere) apology before hurrying ahead, only to be tugged back at the cuffs of his uniform blazer by none other than the person he had knocked into.

The grip on his blazer was unexpectedly strong, and it almost sent him tripping forward in a lack of balance. Spinning around to glare irritably at the boy picking himself up from the floor (while using him as support), Syozo had no other choice but to hold his position as he waited for the other party to speak up.

"Uh.. You are.."

"Akaike Syozo, and I'm part of the discipline-"

"Ah, Akaike-senpai!"

Rudely interrupted, Akaike raised his brow at the boy - judging from his uniform, a first year no doubt - and calmly waited for his explanation, since there was nothing else he could do, with his uniform still held onto by the other party. Hopefully Gii had more luck locating Hayama first..

"I'm really thankful I ran into you, Akaike-senpai, can you come with me for a second?" the younger boy pleaded quickly, tugging at his sleeves. Normally Syozo knew he would play along out of pure curiosity, but this had came at a time he couldn't afford to be distracted from.

"I'm afraid I'm busy now-"

"It's just for a while!" the younger boy cut him off again, more urgently this time. "It's about Hayama-san.."

"About Hayama?" It took him by complete surprise. "What about Hayama?"

Without another word, the younger boy turned and ran out of the hall, dragging a confused Syozo along with him.

* * *

For what seemed like the hundredth time already, Takumi found himself slowly regaining consciousness after he'd fallen out of it, his eyelids fluttering hesitantly in fear to see the state he was in. Pain, and fear, wrecked through his frame, stopping him from lifting himself up into a more dignified position. As he stirred feebly, he could feel his bare body lying limp on the cold, wooden flooring, and the air-conditioning blowing wave after wave of chilly, harsh wind against his naked skin.

With a jolt, Takumi realised that there was no one near him, or _on_ him - no one attacking him, demanding him for more, forcing him into positions that..

Squeezing his eyes shut to stop his would-be-disastrous train of thoughts, Takumi strained his ears in hope to pick up any sound - or rather, proof of the lack of it.

Had he finally been left alone?

Finally, Takumi forced his eyes open, to find himself staring at the wooden flooring of the music room blankly, nothing else. It would take him another minute perhaps to gather enough strength to raise his head, and maybe then he would be able to better judge his own situation..

"Oh, so you're finally awake," a familiar, cheerful voice reached his ears, sending trembles down Takumi's spine. Now he knew he wasn't alone at all.. And for Takumi, the only possible good news was that Uzuki-kun sounded calm at the moment.

"You.."

"Slow aren't they, Hayama-san? Your.. Friends. Comrades. Rescue.."

Translating Uzuki-kun's casual, almost amused tone into an act of provocation, Takumi's frame stiffened against the wooden floor as he felt a certain anger rush through his veins. After all that had been done to him, he was still spoken to in that tone.. Fueled by his provoked humiliation and feeling of unjustness, Takumi pushed himself up from the ground supported only by his shaky arms. Half-sitting, resting his weight on his waist and his arm, Takumi looked up to glare at the first year in question - vaguely noting that the latter was fully dressed unlike himself - only to find Uzuki-kun fiddling with his- Takumi's cellphone.

"Oh, this?" Takumi knew he must have looked surprised, because Uzuki-kun caught his eyes, and shot him a small smile - one which took Takumi entirely by surprise, because the first year was radiating such an air of gentleness, composure.. The extreme opposite of how he had been just a while before. "You were out cold, so I couldn't ask. I'm sorry I looked, Hayama-san, but it's hard not to be curious about you and Saki-senpai."

"My phone-" _What did you want with it.._

"I didn't do anything but to look through, so relax," teased Uzuki, brushing Takumi aside verbally, flipping the cellphone open with his fingers as though he was looking through it - again. "Though I couldn't help but to notice that you don't seem to have many contacts or saved messages.."

".. Eh?"

Takumi had started shaking unconsciously; the strain that was put upon the arm he used to prop himself up from the ground was apparent. However, the third year took no notice as he started ahead blankly, at the younger boy smiling at him.

"No pictures either.. It's really hard to believe that the both of you are really an item," Uzuki continued, laughing. "Does Saki-senpai dislike taking pictures? Or do you, Hayama-san?"

"It's not that- We just.. Don't think there's a need to.."

"Is that really so, I wonder."

"What.." _What do you mean..?_ "We just don't really think about these.."

Before he knew it, Takumi was too busy trying to defend his relationship to realise he was being spun around by Uzuki-kun.

"We didn't.. I-I don't know.. Maybe.."

"Maybe Saki-senpai just doesn't want to get caught in pictures with you?"

Nothing but shock ran through Takumi's frame as he digested the words hanging heavily in the air, choking his breath as his mind slowly broke down Uzuki-kun's _suggestion_.

"No.." _It can't be.._

Clapping Takumi's cellphone shut, Uzuki dangled it preciously on its phone strap between two fingers, taunting Takumi to snatch his phone back; however, upon seeing how that the third year seemed to have lost all interest in his own cellphone, Uzuki stopped and sighed.

"No.." Takumi muttered, more to himself than to Uzuki-kun, not noticing his cellphone at all.

"You know.." The younger boy began, and was taken aback when he found himself not being looked at at all. "The whole time you were out.. No one called you on your cellphone."

As his tone - originally meant to be indifferent, teasing - softened at the sight of Takumi's disheartenment, Uzuki found himself slowly approaching Takumi; before he realised, he already had his hand on the older boy's shoulder, holding him in a sort of half embrace. Upon contact, Takumi shuddered, trembling terribly, but he did not have the strength to push Uzuki away. It was almost.. Pitiful. Normally he would have thought twice to judge if this was just an act, but this time, he didn't even want to; he didn't need to. Everything was more than apparent on Takumi's face.

Uzuki had wanted to _destroy_ Takumi entirely, to show him the consequences of stepping over his line - he had wanted to wreck Takumi physically first, then emotionally, and he was almost there already - but he had been beaten to it by Takumi himself. Glancing down, supporting the older boy as he fell limp into his own arms, Uzuki sighed again, and wondered why and how this was happening.

This wasn't how he pictured his 'victory'.

"I wouldn't have answered if anyone did call, but the thing is.. No one did. At all."

He wasn't sure if Takumi was capable of replying him anymore.

"I don't think Saki-senpai, or anyone at all - is going to come looking for you, Hayama-san."

"No.. They'll definitely.. Definitely.." Takumi managed finally, after a long while of silence, his voice thick with emotions. It felt like it was taking the third year everything he had to utter that few words, to speak his mind.

Uzuki looked away, not sure if he should speak his mind at all - not when Takumi looked like he would fall apart any moment now.

".. Hayama-san.. If they- if Saki-senpai had wanted to find you, they'd already be here. We're not really hard to find- not for Saki-senpai at least. Wasn't this place.. Special, for the both of you?"

His words were greeted by a dry silence. It made him want to continue saying all those hurtful things - not to ruin Takumi further, but to _save_ him - because Takumi looked really hollow and weakened now, and he needed to snap out of this pitiful state.

"Look at me. Saki-senpai is only playing with you- probably to prove that you're someone he could conquer like everyone else. He's used to all that attention, Hayama-san, and you must have stood out to him as one person who wasn't charmed by him immediately, that's why he played you. This is the perfect proof- he's not coming for you.. Imagine when he finds you, in this state.. Look. He's done with you, like how he was done with all of us the moment he first laid eyes on us."

Spitting it all out urgently, Uzuki stood up, pulling Takumi with him. Half carrying, half dragging Takumi over to the piano, the first year eased the third year into a sitting position leaning against one of the piano's leg, in an angle such that Takumi could easily glance at the door.

"He.. He's not going to come, Hayama-san," Uzuki repeated while stepping away, only to gather Takumi's scattered uniform - and piling them by Takumi's side, just within reach.

Then he paced away, towards one of the windows instead of the door to the room, pausing when his fingertips felt the ice-cold glass.

"I'll come back to get you.. If I don't hear anything after nightfall," whether it was a promise out of sympathy or guilt, neither of the two boys knew. As the first year slipped easily out of the window, he left it to drop back down on its own, not looking back as he ran towards the dormitories.

Takumi barely realised that Uzuki-kun had left.

It felt like he was slipping out of consciousness again, except he was fully awake; the nightmares he saw were but visions, conjured before his empty eyes by his imagination. Uzuki-kun's voice echoed in his head, knocking the breath out of him everytime he tried to inhale, to calm himself down.

The cold air hit him in waves again, a reminder that he was now truly alone.

A single tear escaped from the corner of his eyes, drawing a clean, clear line down his cheek before falling noisily onto the wooden floor.

With a loud crack, the locked door was kicked open, knocking harshly against the wall before being stopped more gently by someone. As he finally fell unconscious again, however, all Takumi could bring himself to acknowledge was the crowd that had gathered at the forced-opened door, and how Gii was not among them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

Uh.. Need to clarify. In this story, Shingyoji is shorter than Misu (because they're cute that way) even though in the manga Shingyoji is taller. Yup. Just picture Kawasumi Bishin as Shingyoji.. You'll get what I mean. Can't wait for the 4th movie Pure! XD

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Gii ran, almost madly, his cellphone clutched tightly in his fist. Dashing through the school so hurriedly, he had no time to notice all the surprised and shocked faces around him, blurred into nothing but colours along with the school buildings in their background.

He was running with a direction, different from his blind search just a while ago. He ran with a motivation, his face lined with deep concentration.

Soon, Gii had his uniform plastered against his skin in sweat and his limbs were protesting from his wild run, but he ignored own his discomfort. He ran as though he was in a race, as though the love he had known would be taken away should he fail to win. This discomfort he felt was nothing against this fear, this uncertainty, and this _guilt_ his own heart had trapped himself in.

_If something happened to Takumi, it would be no one else's fault but my own..  
Please, let Takumi be okay.. He's been through enough.. Because of me.._

He had last ran like this, not too long ago when he finally realised his mistake of trying to casting Takumi aside in hopes that they could each handle their situations alone - but he had been wrong, then, and he had made the same mistake again now. He had chose to leave Takumi alone again, and he had not been by his lover's side when he was needed, the most.

Hopefully, just hopefully, nothing had happened, and he could just make up for his mistake like this had never happened..

Whether it was an upwards climb or a downwards slope, Gii cleared them all with equal haste and ease, without breaking his pace, his mind fixed on his destination. He had received the information from Syozo not long ago from a rushed phone call; Takumi's whereabouts were finally confirmed by Syozo and Misu, who were already there; a small part of his wish was denied the moment he was yelled at to hurry to the location.

_"We're at the concert hall, second last room down the left corridor turn. Can you make it?"_

Gii had hoped, with all his heart, that Takumi was not at that concert hall, out near the boundary of their school campus, that one which was due for demolition - because that was a special place for the both of them, particularly Takumi. It had been the place where they had been gathered at by the strings of fate, the place where he had confessed, a place of countless loving memories. It was a place of great significance in their relationship.

It was a place he wanted to protect, to hold sacred, and to not be stained by horrible memories, but..

Perhaps this proved that he was not powerful enough to do so.

_"Can you make it?"_

_Of course I can, Syozo.. I must.._

Hopefully, nothing had happened to Takumi, and he was just thinking too much..

* * *

Syozo crept quietly down the seemingly deserted hallway of the big concert hall, in search of Hayama or other persons possibly around. He had no idea why he was brought here by that freshman boy, nor did he know where he was supposed to end up in, but a quick search through the many rooms in this hall would be helpful while he was at it. Syozo padded quietly onwards after testing a few doors - finding himself staring into vacant rooms with every door he tried - while vaguely cursing himself for not being able to put a name to the boy who had led him here. In order to be helpful, the least he could have done was to commit the entire name book of their freshmen this year to memory..

(Which he would probably find the time to, after the current mess die down).

As he continued down the concert hall, Syozo pulled open a couple more doors to more empty music rooms and a broom cupboard. His search brought him close to the end of the first hallway, where it turns left into more rooms and finally the main concert hall, which takes up majority of the higher levels of the building - which also meant that his search would end soon. This did not make any sense to Syozo; why had that first year boy brought him here? Perhaps he would finally understand when he reaches the end of his search.

Cautiously sneaking a peak down the turn of the hallway, Syozo drew a slow breath before proceeding. Upon continuing down the hallway, Syozo had his line of sight immediately captured by something (or rather someone) he had least expected to see.

Up ahead at one of the doors further down the hallway was Misu Arata, half kneeling with his ears on the door, his eyes fierce with concentration while his lips were pursed.

Accidentally inhaling too sharply in surprise, Syozo was spotted by the other third year, and was called over with a quick wave. Eying Misu's raised brows and still-pursed lips, Syozo sank into a half-kneel beside Misu, pointed at the door and whispered, "What's the situation?"

"This seemed like the only possible place left, and I've confirmed this is the only locked room in the whole building. All I could catch was a mumbled conversation, but it had stopped for a while already," Misu explained quickly in an equally hushed voice, gesturing towards inside the room. "Shingyoji is on his way to fetch a staff member. Does Saki know yet?"

"No, I just arrived as well. Shall I call him?"

"Ah, please do," replied Misu, returning his attention to the room they were spying on.

Hoping to keep the conversation short, Syozo dialed Gii's number (which was on speed-dial), and had his call picked up after the second ring.

"Gii. Any luck with Hayama on your end?" Hopefully, Gii could hear even though he was still speaking in a hushed, strained tone.

_"No, you? Have you found Takumi?" _Gii responded quickly, and Syozo was not surprised to hear the breathless voice of the other boy, probably because he was talking while running.

"Probably.. Only. We're not sure."

_"We?"_

"I'm with Misu-kun," Syozo whispered, throwing a quick look at his company. Misu had stood up, and was leaning completely on the door with his hand on the doorknob, the expression on his face tight and worried. Footsteps sounded from down the hallway, and soon they were joined by Toshihisa, Shingyoji and Matsumoto-sensei, all silent and grim-faced. It seems like Shingyoji had filled the teacher in with details as they made their way here. "Now Matsumoto-sensei, Toshihisa-kun and Shingyoji-kun are here with us as well.."

_"Where are you right now?"_

"We're at the concert hall, second last room down the left corridor turn. Can you make it?"

_"I'll be there in 5- no, 3 minutes."_

"We'll wait for you then-" before Syozo could finish, Gii had cut the line.

"Will Gii-senpai be here soon?" Shingyoji asked, glancing worriedly at Misu before he focused on Syozo, who was still holding his phone at his ear.

"He should be here soon-" -a loud bang was issued from within the room, a harsh sound of something colliding with wood, and it made almost everyone jump. The sound of what seemed like a huge impact hung heavily in the air even seconds after it had happened. "-what!" "It can't be!"

Dropping his phone in shock as he pulled himself up, Syozo watched as Misu threw himself on the door immediately, twisting the doorknob urgently, his forehead at the door such that his long hair shielded his face and his expression from view. Toshihisa was chewing on his lips again, his face heavy with pain and worry; Shingyoji was just staring at Misu with a shocked and confused expression. Had he not been panicking as well, Syozo might have reflected on the degree of weirdness of the scene. However, this was the least of his worries.

The door was still tightly locked, showing no signs of budging.

Misu growled his frustration, to the surprise of most of everyone, and slumped against the door. He was shaking and it was a weird reaction; but there was no time to ponder about this now, Syozo thought. The only way to open the door he could come up with was to fetch the keys from the school's office, but the building was far away. God knows what would become of Hayama if they had to make the trip (and back)..

Syozo had sunk into deeper thoughts, until he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, steering him away not too roughly. Matsumoto-sensei had stepped out from behind all of them, his face blank and unreadable as he approached Misu. "Move away," the oldest male said quietly and made a move to shift Misu away physically, but Misu reacted first by shifting away to the side, glancing up to glare at the teacher with a foreign, fierce flare in his eyes.

What they least expected was for Matsumoto-sensei to lash out, and to knock the locked door open with a side kick.

"!"

As the rest of the boys watched in shock, the wooden door - weak with age - bounced open from being unable to stand such a heavy blow. Without being told, the lot of them flooded past Matsumoto-sensei and into the room through the forced-open entrance, barely paying the door any attention as it collided harshly with the inner wall.

"Hayama-san!" "Takumi!" "Hayama!"

Then, as they took in the scene before them, the group of boys each felt their voices choke in their throats; there, lying broken and ruined at the piano was Hayama, his face looking away from the door, his eyes void of emotions. Bruises in shades of purple and pink coloured his body and his clothes were in a rough pile by his side.. And, not to be missed, was a sparkling track of tears running down the side of his face.. Even Syozo was rooted to the spot in shock from what he saw, his mind slowly wrapping around the fact that Hayama..

_No.._

Had been..

_It can't be.._

Violated..

Misu was the first to react - he stepped out of the crowd, shrugging out of his own school blazer as he approached Hayama. "Check the windows, see if you can spot anyone escaping," he commanded in a low, coarse as he reached the lifeless form of Hayama, supporting him while wrapping his blazer around the slender, trembling figure. Syozo dashed forward at once, along with Toshihisa, and they threw open a couple of windows and looked out of them - the auburn sunset immediately flooded the room with its cool rays, but that aside, not a single figure was left in their immediate line of sight. Withdrawing, Syozo glanced at Misu holding Hayama again, while the window he had opened slammed shut behind him - so that was the source of the noise they heard earlier on.

"Misu.."

"He's unconscious," the third year replied, scooping Hayama into his arms - bridal-style.

"Hayama-san.. He had been.."

"Yes.."

"We.. We were too late.." Toshihisa mumbled in a broken voice, sinking into a boneless pile against the window he had opened.

"..." Syozo shuffled towards Misu without looking at anyone, and bent over to pick up Hayama's clothes.

Matsumoto-sensei stepped into the room and stood beside Shingyoji, who had not moved even once since entering the room, observing the scene before all of them.

"We should first have him brought to the infirmary-"

"Shh!" Misu suddenly hissed, his eyes gazing intently on Hayama's closed eyes, squeezed shut in pain. Holding their breaths in a stale silence, everyone stared in Hayama's direction, as though waiting for an explanation..

"Why.. Gii.. Why.."

In the much too quiet room, Hayama's weak voice was clear as the skies.

Everyone held their breaths stiffly, even after Hayama had fallen silent completely.

"Hayama.."

"We should bring him to the infirmary," Misu echoed Matsumoto-sensei's suggestion suddenly, breaking the staleness in the room by moving towards the door with Takumi held tightly in his arms, barely brushing past a stunned-shocked Shingyoji as he moved to exit the room. As Toshihisa scrambled to pick himself up from where he had fallen, Syozo stepped forward and called out uncertainly. "Shouldn't we wait for Gii to arrive first? He said he'll be here soon-"

"Not unless you want him to see what he's done to Hayama," Misu suddenly spat, stopping without turning around.

"What are you talking about, Arata-san!" Shingyoji wheeled around immediately, shouting at Misu's back, his voice breaking as he yelled out the older boy's name. Vaguely realizing that the second year sounded close to tears, Syozo turned to glare at Misu.. Until the sudden comprehension dawned upon him.

"You don't mean.. You can't possibly think that Gii was behind all this!"

"Put the facts together, Akaike, I'm sure you can do that much."

"That's just being absurd! It's not possible!"

"Is it, really? You heard Hayama himself."

Silence fell again - thick and uncomfortable. Everyone sank into deeper thoughts; even Matsumoto-sensei, who had kept quiet the entire time apart from offering the advice to have Hayama taken to the infirmary.

"Anyway, even if he hadn't been behind this, he should be responsible for leaving Hayama alone in this state," Misu concluded darkly as he finally exited the room, leaving the others to watch him disappear before they realised that they should chase after him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

_Beep.. .. .. Beep.. .. .._

He was lying on something soft - probably a bed, he could tell without opening his eyes. It felt unusually cold; it attacked him, like waves after waves rushing down his frame - where were his clothes? He felt naked, unprotected. There were no blankets nor clothes around him for him to pull over his bare figure, and it was starting to get more and more chilly by the second.

Even if he did not want to open his eyes, he had to.

As he peeked from beneath his lids - seeing nothing but whiteness - he felt a drop of moisture falling onto his cheek; then another, then a couple more - it jerked him wide awake. Soon it was raining, gradually heavier, and he raised himself from the bed; why was it raining in the room?

_Wait.. Room?_

He stepped forward, and the white walls and bed around him faded into nothingness at once..

He found himself surrounded by a thick forest, barefooted on the rough mud, shivering naked in the rain.

_Where am I?_

A large, white sheet laid beside his feet - he pulled it up automatically, and wrapped it around his trembling frame.

Although it was getting wet, too, the white cloth seem to be providing him with unexpected warmth..

_What am I doing here?_

"Takumi?"

A voice called out, in the distance - hidden by the trees. He turned his head; searching, but seeing nothing.

"Where are you, Takumi?" the voice called out - again, and again. It was a familiar voice..

_Could it be.. Nii-san..?_

_Beep.. .. .. Beep.. .. .._

Someone was stroking his hair - with a persistent, but gentle touch; he could feel it. Why was someone stroking him like that - as though he was easily breakable, as though he was already damaged and was fragile?

He wanted to reach out, to brush the hand away.. Wait, where did all his strength go..?

He couldn't lift his hand. It made him feel helpless; it made him conscious of his surroundings.

Something that sounded like the door opening reached his ears; he wanted to open his eyes - to see, but..

"How is Hayama doing?"

"He's not stirring at all.."

There was a sudden, loud bang in the distance; then, the sound of chairs scrapping sharply against the floor reached his ears. Then the shouting begun, loud but unintelligible - and all he could hear were muffled sounds.

Finally, the door slammed close, and as the slow beeping of machinery filled his ears again..

Everything went black.

_Beep.. .. .. Beep.. .. .._

Racing past trees after trees, he heaved heavily; the more he searched, the more lost he got. His feet were soon covered in mud and scratches; the white sheet of cloth around him was starting to fail to provide him with protection against the chilling cold and heavy rain anymore.

It seemed nearly impossible for him to find anyone in this storm.

_Nii-san.. Where are you?_

"Takumi?"

The voice was behind him; he turned, stumbled back in lack of balance - then gasped.

_Gii..!_

His lover stood a good distance away - a distance he wanted to close, so badly. However, when he took a step forward, he watched in shock as his lover took a similar step.. _Backwards_. Away from him.

"Gii..?"

His lover gazed at him - first surprised to see him - then now, coldly; then, he took another step back, and turned to run away.

"Gii, wait!"

Forgetting all about his previous search, he locked his gaze upon the figure darting through the forest - why was Gii running away from him like that? He didn't understand; why was Gii trying to stay away from him again?

"Gii, wait for me! Stop.."

He could not watch where he was going; crying out as his foot was caught by a tripping root, he fell forward heavily.

Raising his head quickly, wincing in pain, he glanced into the distance - but his lover was gone; swallowed up by the green of the forest. He lowered his head in rejection, pulling the sheet closer around him. He had lost his lover - yet again.

"Oh? Isn't this Hayama-san?"

A voice called out to him, just overhead; it was a smiling, cheerful voice - as though happy to find him in this state. Even before he turned around to look, he knew he was in trouble.

"Uzuki.. kun.."

_Beep.. .. Beep.. .._

The periodic beeping of machinery was in his ears again, loud and slow. It resembled the certain march of a funeral, except he wasn't walking - he was lying down somewhere soft and comfortable, like a bed; a bed that he had, quite literally, sunk into.

It was not until he tried to move his arm did he realise that someone was holding his hand.

That someone holding him gave his hand a squeeze, but he was not able to return it. His body felt weak, drained of energy - as though he had been sleeping for a very, very long time.

_Who is this.._ He wanted to ask, but was unable to part his lips.

"Hayama's been fidgeting in his sleep," someone near him stated, in a voice coloured with deep worry.

_.. Akaike.. kun..?_

"A lot," someone else added, his equally worried voice issued from the other side of the bed.

_.. Toshihisa.._

He felt a gentle touch on his forehead, shifting aside strands of his hair to feel for his temperature.

"It's normal - might be a reaction from nightmares," another familiar voice replied, and Takumi felt something stuck gently into his ear. The thing snapped loudly in his ear - giving him a rude surprise, but it was withdrawn away almost immediately. "His temperature is normal - nothing to worry about," the voice continued professionally, and he briefly heard the sound of pen scratching on paper.

Then, he felt a hand rest on the side of his face; the hand slowly moved up to his eye, and then he felt fingers gently opening his tired eyelids - the next moment, a bright light was shone into his eyes, and his body gave a small, involuntary jerk in shock. "Actually, he should be waking up soon enough," the voice continued, softly, switching off the hand-held torchlight before walking away.

Before his heavy lids closed completely, however, Takumi recognised hair-do of the person wearing a doctor's white coat, the person who had been examining him; putting together the voice he had heard, but..

_.. Misu.. kun? No, that's.. Not possible.._

Briefly noticing the sound of people shuffling around him, he sank back into the bed but tried to stay alert - though it wasn't long before he fell to the temptation of sleep.

Just as he thought he heard the slightest mentioning of his lover's name..

Everything went black again.

_Beep.. .. Beep.. .._

Lying face down on the rough forest floor, the boy tensed and squeezed his eyes shut. Perhaps he could just lie here, and pretend he was knocked out. Perhaps then, Uzuki-kun would just leave him alone without doing any more harm to him.

_Wait.. What harm?_

The rain overhead had stopped; but Uzuki-kun showed no intentions of moving away.

Shuffling nervously, he raised himself and turned to look at the boy beside him - slowly. He then noticed that it was still raining, but the rain wasn't falling on him - because Uzuki-kun was holding an umbrella over the both of them.

".. Uzuki-kun.."

"Here, Hayama-san."

The younger boy reached out a free hand, and he took it without thinking. After pulling up the older boy, they eyes met; Uzuki-kun shot him a gentle smile, and took his hand again, leading him through the forest.

They walked at the same pace - mostly in silence - shielded by the same umbrella.

At times when they looked, and caught each other's eyes, they would smile - then look away, shyly.

_This feels so peaceful.._

There was nothing wrong with this picture.

Or so, he hoped.

_Beep.. .. Beep.._

"... I still don't get it," Shingyoji finally voiced out, tired of the stale silence that was holding all of them stationary. The last time they spoked, or actually _moved _was when Hayama-san last stirred, but up till now the third year senior still showed no signs of awakening. "Shouldn't Gii-senpai be by Hayama-san's side? Why are we here in Gii-senpai's place?"

Syozo looked up from the stack of papers he was reading with a tired sigh, and repeated almost mechanically, "We're the only ones allowed out of the school - Gii isn't, so following the school rules, he's not able come even if he wants to."

"But why? Why isn't he allowed when we are?"

_Beep.. Beep.._

"Like I've said, the school decided that only the few of us are allowed, and their decision is final."

There was a hint of helplessness to Syozo's voice, as though even he himself was tired of repeating these excuses.

"But.."

"Please understand that I cannot comment any further about this, Shingyoji-kun.."

Silence fell once more, awkward and suffocating.

_Beep.. Beep.._

It had been a long trek; Uzuki-kun brought him through the forest, always leading, never once pausing to check their direction - however, the forest looked entirely the same to the older boy who was being dragged along. The feeling of confusion was back - stronger than ever..

"Where.. are we heading?" he finally asked, quietly, fixing his eyes on the younger boy.

Uzuki-kun threw him a weird look, but otherwise did not respond.

Finally breaking out of the forest into a clearing, he glanced ahead and was taken aback in awe - there standing in the middle of the clearing was a humble, yet beautiful house, painted entirely in sky colours.

Without stopping, the younger boy dragged him all the way up to the steps of the house; then, at last, they slowed to a gradual halt before the door.

"What.."

"Go in," laughed Uzuki-kun, and gave him a slight push.

His hand hesitated slightly on the doorknob before twisting it, pushing the door open while edging into the house - it took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness he was walking into. A single person stood in the living room of simple furniture and decor - that single person caught his eyes, and stunned him as he stepped entirely into the room.

"Nii-san..?"

Behind him, the door swung shut firmly, and the sound echoed in the room.

"Why.. are you here.."

_Beep.. Beep.._

"It-It's because of Misu-kun, isn't it?"

Both Syozo and Shingyoji whirled around to look at Toshihisa, who injected out of the blue. "What did you say?"

"Misu-kun told the board of the school that for Takumi's sake, it's best not to have Gii visiting him, right? Akaike-kun.."

_Beep.. Beep.._

Syozo looked away, neither denying nor admitting the statement.

"Akaike-senapi.. Arata-san, he.."

"But more importantly, Gii wouldn't be able to visit the hospital anyway, right? Because Misu-kun is working here or something.. You know, he's been walking in and out of the room, checking on Takumi.. And Misu-kun has a certain power over this hospital.. That's why they had Takumi transferred over from the infirmary, right? Akaike-kun, tell us!"

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

Following the whole outburst of accusations, each of the teenagers shuffled nervously in their own spot, each looking away from the others. They all knew that it was not proper to talk about Misu or Gii without both boys being around, and with Takumi lying still-unconscious just by their sides, but..

"Misu's father is the Director of this Hospital, that's why Hayama was transferred here."

"Eh?" Toshihisa and Shingyoji exclaimed in unison, staring wide-eyed at Syozo.

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

"They must've hoped that Misu would one day take over his father's position," Syozo continued without sparring his company a single look, as though the faster he could finish his recount, the less guilty he would feel. "He studies from and trains with his father here, at this hospital. Misu should already have been transferred to a Medical School in his second year, had he not voiced out that he wished to stay in Shidou Academy to finish his school term."

"But why.."

"My guess is that he stayed for Shingyoji-kun," replied Syozo finally, glancing quickly at Shingyoji before averting his eyes. "It's the kind of thing he would rather not bring up."

Shingyoji looked away into the corner of the room, hiding his face mostly from view. Syozo knew that Shingyoji was feeling confused; it was a complicated feeling, and it was not supposed to be rushed - that's why no one had chosen to voice this out before until Misu or Shingyoji found the right time to talk about it, but.. Now that this has happened..

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

"But it still doesn't explain about Gii.." Toshihisa pressed on, shaking his head at the new information.

"I would've said that the board of Shidou could only allow the maximum number of us to stay out of the school, but that's just a cover story." Syozo sighed again, and continued in a slow, measured tone. "The truth is Misu didn't want Gii to come into contact with Hayama before Hayama awakes. It might affect Hayama's recount, the police authorities told the both of us."

"The police..?"

Shingyoji was jerked out of his thoughts at the mentioning of the word 'police', and he turned to fix his eyes on Syozo once more. "Why are the police involved?"

"The issue was blown up in school, and the authorities were tied in. Naturally, the word was spread out of the school before it could be contained, so a lot more people are involved in this now."

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

As he spoke, Syozo held out the papers he had been reading, and Shingyoji took them over immediately. They were mostly articles about the incident, and while Hayama-san wasn't mentioned by name or by pictures.. Gii-senpai's pictures were included in every page and beneath every headline.

The articles screamed along the same line - "Scandal that shakes the Saki family and Shidou Academy"..

Shingyoji shot a downcasted glance in Syozo's direction before passing on the stack of papers to Toshihisa.

"We were honestly working hard to have the rumours cleared early.. Now this happens."

"Akaike-senpai.. Does Gii-senpai know yet..?"

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

Syozo looked up finally, his gaze faraway. "We're the only ones who have the first-hand recount," he said, softly. "Us, and Misu, and of course, the culprits who have harmed Takumi.. Since none of us have been approached apart from by the police and the school, Gii would not have heard the full story.. But I'm sure he would have found out most of it, by now, like everyone do.. I wouldn't be too surprised to see him charging right up to the hospital.."

Voice trailing off into silence, Syozo dropped his eyes, concluding the discussion.

Each deep in their own thoughts, none of the teenagers took notice of the boy lying unconscious in his bed as his eyelids fluttered.

The beeping of the machinery increased in frequency..

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

* * *

Exploring a new style of writing :)

Alright, before the questions come.. The manga scans online for Takumi-kun stops at volume 3, and the manga is not officially available in my country.. I could find no further elaboration on Misu and his background, so I decided to add in my own to help improve the story. How do you feel about Misu being a trainee doctor? Hehe, review please to let me know! :3 Hope you have enjoyed this plot & chapter!

The chapter was meant to be a little longer but I was pushing it, so this will be continued in chapter 10.

Once again, thank you for reading and following this story! :D


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Elbows resting heavily on his tabletop, Misu Arata had his forehead firm against his interlaced fists, his eyes squeezed shut in pain. He would have loved to be able to call it a day at this point - had he not been seated at his make-shift work desk in his father's office at the hospital, studying the medical reports of a certain Hayama Takumi, anxiously waiting for any form of signal from Akaike Syozo should Hayama suddenly wake up.

That's right, just waiting, not being able to do anything..

He had been waiting for more than a year, now - waiting, convinced that what he firmly believed in was not just a timely lie to help him out of his sorrow. Even if he knew that what he believed in might very well be false, there was no way for him to put it down or to walk away; not when his entire life and reason for existence was built upon this lie.

_That person_ will definitely come back, he had always believed - because he believed it when he was told that in this world, there were 3 other persons who were exactly like you.. Be it by looks, by character, or both. The proof was that _that person_ had once again returned, and had been right by his side for the past whole year and now.. He just never took notice, because they looked nothing like each other.

Habitually, Misu allowed his eyes to explore the familiar layout of his father's office, taking in the neatly arranged furniture and shelves of books and files.. Until his vision finally came to rest on a single photograph on his own desk, framed and propped up in a simple, cream-hazel photo frame.

It had been _that person's_ favourite colour.

Before he knew it, his cellphone was in his hand, and he was dialling away urgently at a number he had memorised so long ago; within a few rings the call was picked up, and it was answered by a familiar voice - although it was not the voice he longed to hear.

_"It sure has been long, Arata-kun."_

"Ah, it sure has been, Sagara-senpai," Misu answered quietly, careful to keep the trembling out of his voice as he spoke.

_"It has been a while since we last conversed, hasn't it? Although I would have expected you to call me on my own cellphone instead if you needed something from me, Arata-kun.."_

"I'm sorry," replied Misu smoothly, though he was no longer able to contain the tremors wrecking through his entire frame. "I must have dialled the wrong number by habit. Perhaps you could have simply not answered the call, Sagara-senpai, if you knew it was going to be me."

_"Would you be happier if I had left this phone unattended, Arata-kun?"_

Unable to answer that question honestly, Misu fell silent with his head lowered. Sagara-senpai seemed to be in no rush for him to continue speaking, so the silence was held stiff across the phone.

"Say, Sagara-senpai," Misu managed finally, his voice breaking from its lack of use. "Do you remember that last letter left for me by _that person_ last autumn, when we parted for the last time..? The letter where _that person_ mentioned how there were 3 other persons in this world who were exactly like you..?"

_"Of course I do," _Sagara-senpai replied quickly, although he sounded wary; almost faraway. _"What about it?"_

"I think I've found someone - a person just like who _that person_ had been talking about."

_"Arata.."_

Sudden footsteps - loud and urgent - approached the office Misu was in; in the next moment, the door was wrenched open to reveal a nurse who had been working together with Misu for the treatment of Hayama Takumi. Raising his head in irritation, Misu shot a glare in the direction of the door - on the other side of the line, Sagara-senpai fell silent, as though able to picture the situation across the phone line. Surely the staff members of this hospital his father was managing were taught better manners than this; she could have knocked on the door at the least.

However, as the nurse matched their gaze, he knew immediately something was wrong.

"Misu-sama," she heaved, panting heavily as she half-collapsed by the frame of the door - it was evident she had been searching all over for him. "It's Saki-sama, we have been informed that he is currently on his way here.."

"Please excuse me Sagara-senpai, I have to go-" said Misu as calmly as he could manage, slamming the phone down with unnecessary force before he even received a reply from his senior. "What is his expected time of arrival at the hospital?" he growled in frustration as he hurried to fetch his white coat from the coat stand.

"3 minutes.." was all the nurse had managed to say before she watched Misu dash down the hall and disappear around the turn to the emergency stairs.

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

The shouting began from all the way down the hallway, and it caught the attention of everyone in the room immediately. Loud but muffled voices reached them at irregular intervals, but they were unable to properly identify any of the voices shouting outside. Casting away their distractions, Syozo, Toshihisa and Shingyoji found themselves tensing where they sat; anxiously staring at the door as though it they fear it would suddenly be knocked opened.

It was only until the shouting outside slowly approached the room they were in were they able to confirm that it was definitely Gii who was among the crowd - just as Syozo had speculated.

"Move out of the way!" they heard, and almost jumped at how anxiety and anger had torn through, and had distorted Gii's voice.

"Lock the door!" Another familiar voice yelled at them from right outside the room, and they heard someone slamming his body - or a body being slammed, actually - against the door. Bolting up from his seat at once, Shingyoji flung himself at the door, and double snapped the lock in place, trembling on the spot after he did.

The noise made by the lock snapping into place had been too awfully loud, they realised a heartbeat too late.

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

He was lying in a bed again; only this time, he was in a bed he was unfamiliar with. Bounded at his wrist and ankles by a strong and rough force, he twisted against the restrains with all his strength, but they wouldn't budge - he was held against his will - again..

"Let me go!" he cried out - fidgeting - thrashing out in fright.

"Don't be a spoilsport, Hayama-san.. Just relax," Uzuki-kun laughed, and tugging at the sheet wrapped around him playfully. "It'll be fun.."

As his only form of protection fell aside nosily, he felt a pair of hands snaking down his trembling frame.

"No.."

His pleas were ignored, and he felt his captors dancing fingers towards his sensitive regions.

"Please.."

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

For a moment, a rude silence swept through everyone - inside, and outside of Hayama's room. Shingyoji was still shivering, standing right by the door; Syozo and Toshihisa were standing at their individual seats, anxious and upset by the development of things.

It was then did the real shouting start.

"Move out of my way, Misu!" Gii had arrived outside the room; his enraged yell was echoing in the otherwise silent room so loud, he could have been yelling inside the room, they all thought.

"I have no obligations to obey you, Saki," Misu replied clearly in a cold voice, and the boys inside the room realised that Misu was standing right before the door, shielding the only entry to the room with his own frame. "Now get out of here."

"I'm not leaving until I see Takumi!"

A loud bang - it sounded like Gii had punched something really solid, like someone, or the wall.

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

Vaguely, Syozo tired picturing Misu Arata standing before a door with his hands out stretched to his side; blocking the door from Gii's entry. It was entirely out of Misu's usual behaviour, but in a situation like this..

"Look at yourself! You are in no state to see Hayama now!" Misu snarled, agitated as well - as though Gii was finally getting on his nerves.

"Please calm down, Saki-sama," another voice outside of the room added weakly.

"This is a hospital.." The reasoning sounded hollow in comparison to Gii's rage.

"Come back when you've calmed down," Misu finished with a growl.

That seemed to Gii's last straw; it completely angered him.

What reached the teenagers in the room next was a terrible ensemble of chaos: a yell that sounded barely human; the loud thud of a body against the door, the creak of the door against the strain it was withstanding; high-pitched screams, no doubt from the surrounding nurses, accompanied by frightened cries and shouts. Then, as quickly as it started, the sounds of confusion died away, and it was deathly silent outside again.

"I know you're in there, Syozo," came Gii's voice, deep, calm and almost controlled. "Open the door."

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

He recognised the strong pair of hands forcing his legs apart, for it was a touch that haunted him in nightmares since young - he had memorised this feeling from experience, and had tried to shy away from everything that was remotely similar..

It was none other than his own brother which was staring down at him right now, with those eyes filled with nothing but lust.

"Nii-san.. Please.. Let me go.."

"I've been searching so hard for you, Takumi.." the older male replied in a breathless voice, eying him with a smirk he did not like. "Now that I've found you, we should do some catching up with each other.."

The clear slap on his bottoms was loud and sharp in the quiet room, but he could not feel the pain; his heart was paralysed with sorrow from digesting his brother's words. Every nightmare he had tried to deny was coming true - even his brother, whom he had believed was sincerely sorry about what had happened, was betraying his trust..

"I beg you, Nii-san.. Please don't.. Please stop.."

The sudden, crazed laughter from behind him told him that he was the only person who wished for this to end.

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

Staring in uncertainty at his companions, Syozo bit down hard on his lips, and shied away from the door. He did not want to doubt Gii regarding Hayama's issue, nor did he want to betray his best friend's trust; but he did not have the strength to stand in between Misu and Gii, nor did he have the strength to expose Hayama to the enraged Gii right now.

What could he do? He had never seen Gii this angered before.

"I'm sorry, Gii.. But I can't." Syozo did not expect to be able to get away with just that - but if his friendship with Gii was the cost he had to pay for protecting Hayama..

"I have no time for this nonsense Syozo, OPEN THE DOOR!"

"I cannot do that, Gii, not with you in this state." Syozo straightened his voice as best as he could, hoping to be able to calm his best friend through the door. "Please, cool down and we can talk, alright?"

Another loud bang, and Syozo knew Gii had probably punched the wall again. "I just need to see Takumi, Syozo, I'm only asking this favour-"

"Don't open that door no matter what-" came Misu's pained voice, but he was silenced quickly with a loud, dull thud - as though Gii had chosen to shut the other boy up with violence. Exclamations of shock and pain erupted from the other side of the door. "Misu-sama!" they heard a female voice call out in fright, and the sound of people scrambling where the boys in the room could not see.

"Gii-senpai, please stop hurting Arata-san!" Shingyoji whimpered, unable to contain himself anymore, struggling to keep himself from wrenching the door open just for Misu's sake.

"Open the door and this will stop-"

"Stay where you are and don't listen to him-"

There was a sudden, sickening crunch, followed immediately by a pained howl that was unmistakably from Misu; then everything fell silent, apart from the rushed breathing of Misu in pain.

"Open the door if you want this to stop," came their final threat from Gii, in the coldest voice they've heard by far.

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

When a hard object was shoved into his body from behind, Takumi arched his back reflexively in shock and pain; then as the hardness started to move in and out of him, Takumi felt nothing but waves after waves of disgust crashing through his body.

He thought that it couldn't possibly get any worse than this - until he looked up, only to find his lover studying him and the entire action from a corner of the room.

Disbelief was a strong, sour taste in his mouth, and he almost choked despite his situation.

"Gii.. Please.. Help me.." _Make this stop.._

His lover gazed at him calmly, not a single trace of urgency as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"Why.. Gii.. Why are you.." _Why are you just standing there, watching me.._

Yelping as the hard object was jerked into him for one last, eternal time, Takumi shuddered as he felt a warm liquid flow down the inside of his thighs, and raised his head to bring his lover into view again.

It stabbed at his heart as he found his lover standing at the exact same spot, glaring at him through narrowed eyes - as though in dislike, in disgust.. Or both.

"Gii.. Why.."

He no longer resisted as his frame was pulled upright for another continuation.

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

Before he knew it, Shingyoji had been reduced to a shivering, formless pile on the floor right by the door. He could see neither Akaike-senpai nor Toshihisa-san from where he knelt, but he knew that neither of his seniors was in as much pain as he was in right now.

Another series of sharp, snapping crunch sounded from outside the room; Shingyoji looked up immediately, his eyes moist with tears. Then, a loud thud followed by the creaking of the weakened door hinted that someone was sent flying straight at the door again; this time, the incoherent moan issued from the other side told them that its owner was no longer able to fight against this violence.

Recognising the moan and its owner, Shingyoji whimpered, and threw himself against the door - as though he would somehow be able to feel the other boy through the wooden barrier.

"Arata-san.." He didn't really have the strength to care anymore - not about his broken voice, and not about the stares he knew he was getting from Akaike-senpai and Toshihisa-san.

"Don't.. 'm fine.. Hayama.. Protect.."

"Arata-san, why.."

Shingyoji had not noticed the footsteps approaching him until they reached him, and then a gentle pair of hands was helping him up while steering him away from the door. When he looked up, he saw Toshihisa-san's small, saddened smile, and found Akaike-senpai standing with his hand on the doorknob, his expression resigned.

The three of them inhaled in unplanned unison, and Akaike-senpai opened the door inwards so it wouldn't hit whoever was right outside of the door (mainly just Misu-kun), stepping away from the entrance slightly as he did so.

"Why.."

Shingyoji watched as Gii-senpai rushed into the room without a further prompt, without paying even the slightest bit of attention to anyone of them at all; his eyes were fixed in the direction of Hayama-san's bed. However, Shingyoji's eyes lingered for barely a second before they caught sight of his favourite senior on the floor, trying his best to push himself up into a more dignified position. Hurrying forward, Shingyoji caught hold of Arata-san's arm, and helped pull the older boy up with him as he stood.

Weakened from the continuous attacks from Gii-senpai, Arata-san was unable to stand on his own; Shingyoji had the older boy lean heavily on himself for support, while he held the older boy's waist gingerly. Only after they had steadied themselves, standing outside of the room, did the both of them realise the state of complete silence the room was in.

Following everyone's line of sight, Shingyoji eventually found himself staring in the direction of Hayama-san's bed; although Hayama-san was no longer lying down, lost in unconsciousness. At this very moment he was seated up and staring ahead, straight at Gii-senpai, his eyes wide in fright, his covers gathered at his mouth in tightly clutched fists.

It was a bizarre reaction to see from Hayama-san, seeing that how it was the couple's reunion after such many days of not seeing each other - and apparently everyone in the room thought so - everyone, including Gii-senpai.

"Takumi," he called out softly, finally reacting to the strange scene - in a manner entirely different from just a moment ago, slowly stepping closer to the other third year with his hands stretched out. "It's me, I-"

"Stay away from me!" Hayama-san cried out, his voice high-pitch with apparent fear, tugging the covers over his head and hiding himself from view.

"Eh! ?" "Takumi ? !"

"Don't come any closer to me!" the third year whimpered, sounding like he had burst straight into tears.

The first person to react was Akaike-senpai; he inhaled sharply, loud enough to distract most of everyone in the room, and tackled Gii right out of the room, almost knocking Shingyoji and Misu off their feet in the progress. Toshihisa followed out of the room quickly, reaching out to close the room door as he hurried out.

"Stabilise Hayama's condition- then lock the room door and let no one else enter until further instructions," were the last orders Misu had the time to give the rest of the staff surrounding them before he was rushed forward by Shingyoji to join the bunch of wrestling teenagers down the corridor.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

The day Misu Arata was disclosed to that he was no longer capable of performing surgeries was the day where he learnt you could indeed snap a pen into clean halves with only one hand. Unfortunately for him, the pen he had snapped in his good hand had been a fountain pen; it sparred no one in his hospital room when the truth of the severity of his other, broken hand finally sank into him.

He had been lying in bed, in a hospital room just beside Hayama's, counting his injuries sceptically - Saki had struck him multiple times in his blind rage. Those attacks resulted in mostly bruises from his chest down, as well as a set of cracked ribs up front; but these were nothing too serious which he couldn't easily heal from, Misu had thought.

Then the news came in - his right hand had not been as fortunate. Right after Misu was sent falling onto the ground, he had tried to hold Saki back to prevent him from breaking his way into the room violently; Saki had stepped - hard - and more than once, on his right hand, crushing a couple of his metacarpal as well as rendering his entire wrist useless with fractured carpals. The fractures resulted in further hand tissue injury, but the supposed tearing pain had been ignored in Misu's adrenaline rush, following last night's events.

Only when Misu allowed himself to be properly treated afterwards did his fellow doctors realise the bad state he was in.

At this moment his right arm was set in a heavy white cast, the pain he was supposed to feel now numbed by the analgesic drugs still running through his veins. The truth seemed so far away, so unrealistic - how could the hand he had always depended on be broken? Perhaps it was the effect of those pain-killers; he could feel nothing of the wounded limb beneath its thick cast, and he could take in nothing of the bustling doctors and nurses hurrying in and out of his room. Misu barely noted as they advised him on the care of his broken wrist, assuring him that the future was not set in stones; should he be able to perform well in recovery and physiotherapy, there was still a chance he could perform surgeries again - however, the chances were slim, and he didn't need his worried colleagues to say that out loud for him to know.

"Well, at least he didn't break my writing hand," he had joked, albeit cynically, but none of the nurses accompanying him took to the humour in his voice. Actually, for reasons unknown to Misu, they had burst out of the room completely dissolved in tears, leaving Misu alone in his room with a shell-shocked Shingyoji until the next batch of older, more matured-looking nurses took over the shift.

Misu didn't fancy meeting his parents in this state - he knew they must be terribly disappointed.

What good was he as a doctor if he was incapable as a surgeon? Even though he was sure that they would already had known, Misu did not want to imagine his parents' reactions - their only son - their only successor - their only hope for the hospital's future, crushed along with those brittle but oh-so important bones in his hand. God, Misu thought; this was like some badly-timed April fool's joke.

"Arata-san.." a soft voice to his side summoned him from the depths of his thoughts. Looking to his right in a gingerly, controlled manner that would bring his upper frame less pain, Misu glanced at his companion, and crooked an eyebrow in question.

Thankfully, Shingyoji was used to reading his body gestures - his understanding of Misu was at a point beyond words. Shuffling nervously in his seat, Shingyoji looked like he was caught between asking Misu if his wounds hurt or if he needed something - when the younger finally decided on the latter, Misu sighed in relief. The last thing he wanted to do was to snap at Shingyoji now for being retarded.

"Apple?" Shingyoji squeaked, his eyes wide and innocent, a hand moving to fumble with the basket of fruits left by Misu's bedside. Misu guessed it was from Saki, although he couldn't be sure; his arch-rival had a twisted sense of humour when it came to apologies, or people in general. For all they knew, Saki had poisoned the entire basket of fruits beforehand, and Misu wasn't going to take the chance.

"This is not a soap opera, Shingyoji. You don't have to patronise me," snorted Misu, looking away at the fruits basket with clear disgust.

By his side, Shingyoji flinched horribly as though he had thought the disgust was directed at him, but went unnoticed by Misu as he struggled to compose himself. The younger boy dropped the hand he had reached out, eyelids lowered as he finally took his gaze off the older male.

A strange, stale silence fell; with Misu not noting the need to question it, and Shingyoji saddened at his senior's apparent lack of concern.

Then, as though urged on by the sinking feeling in his stomach, Shingyoji suddenly pushed himself out of his seat, and started for the door. Perhaps putting a distance between Arata-san and himself was for the best right now. Arata-san must've been shaken, and upset by the news of his hand - Shingyoji wanted to believe. That must've been the cause of Arata-san's sudden heightened obnoxious attitude. "I'm going to find Akaike-senpai and Toshihisa-san," Shingyoji murmured in an unsteady voice, not looking at his favourite senior as his hands rested on the doorknob.

"Good. Help me check on Hayama while you're at it," Misu replied absent-mindedly, closing his eyes and lying back into his bed, guessing Akaike and Katakura would be with Hayama in his room. Perhaps news of Hayama's condition could take his mind off his parents and their family business's future.

Misu did not notice it when Shingyoji had to stifle a sudden sob that had threatened to escape his bit-down lips.

Fighting the fresh moisture overflowing in his eyes, Shingyoji twisted blindly at the doorknob and swung the door open widely, outwards. The sudden curses from outside of the room startled him, and he could no longer hold back his tears, allowing them to flow down his cheeks uncontrolled; thankfully he had his back towards Arata-san, Shingyoji thought. As he glanced up at the people standing around him, Shingyoji realised that they were all looking past him, at the figure still lying in bed.

_The Police_, Shingyoji breathed, and without thinking, he moved in hope to block the entrance with his frame; however, the dark blue-clothed males have already stepped past him cleverly, and were moving in to surround Arata-san's bed.

"We'd like a word with you about Saki Giichi-sama and Hayama Takumi-san, Misu-san, if you wouldn't mind."

Shingyoji whipped around, just in time to lock gaze with Arata-san, whose features were already clearly arranged in an exasperated manner.

* * *

Slightly lowering the sheets held up to his face, Takumi peeked over the white cotton he was clutching to his lips at his only company in the room. The regular check-up he was forced to undergo every six hours a day had just ended, and as the nurse withdrew herself from the room (locking the door as she went), Takumi found himself left alone with no one else but Akaike-kun seated by the side of his bed.

At this moment, Akaike-kun was leaning back heavily in his chair, his eyes closed in lethargy - he looked very much like he needed a good rest, Takumi thought, studying the dull eye bags beneath his friend's closed lids.

Since he had awakened, Takumi had yet to converse with any of the other boys. Takumi knew the other teens were bursting with questions, and he was grateful at how the discipline committee member was holding back his interrogation. Speaking of interrogations, he was yet to be confronted by the Police, who had already interrogated both Akaike-kun and Toshihisa multiple times - Takumi gathered this from the conversations between the two other boys he had overheard (because they always thought Takumi was asleep). Takumi assumed immediately it was Akaike-kun or Gii who had been steering the Police away from him, allowing him peace to recover at his own pace.

Everyone was doing so much for him - everyone, including Gii, who was not by his side.. This thought brought back memories of the night before. Takumi realised only afterwards, when he was locked alone in his room, that he had lashed out at his lover in fear. The dream he had while being unconscious had confused, startled, and frightened him, but that was no excuse for how he had treated Gii. He needed to see his lover, to properly apologise for his misconduct. He needed to thank his friends for being by his side since they found him, he needed to let them know what happened in the music room..

There were so many things he had to do, Takumi realised with a groan, closing his eyes as he sank deeper into his bed.

By his side, Akaike-kun stirred, as though disturbed by the noise he made. Immediately feigning sleep, Takumi struggled to keep his breathing straight as he felt a pair of gentle hands brush past his cheek; but instead of prodding him awake, the soft touch of those fingers only helped relax his clenched fist before tugging the blanket out of his grasp, then smoothing it over his gradually relaxed form.

Takumi hadn't known Akaike-kun to be such a gentle person, and it took him by pleasant surprise.

Before he was allowed more time to ponder about Akaike-kun's careful actions, Takumi's attention was quickly captured by the sound of soft but urgent knocking on the room door. It seemed Akaike-kun had noticed it as well; he immediately withdrew his hands from the side of Takumi's bed and shifted away. With the hushed sound of his chair scrapping against the floor, Akaike-kun stood up, crossed the length of the hospital room and made for the door - standing in such a way that his body was blocking the insides of the room from view.

From where he laid in bed peeking over his sheets, Takumi could not see the person at the door, for he was shielded by Akaike-kun's tall and firm frame. However, his questions were quickly answered as he heard the equally hushed voice from the entrance.

"I just received a call from Shingyoji-kun," the voice, Toshihisa's, was saying. "Can we talk inside?"

Akaike-kun must have nodded; without further ado, he stepped aside to let to let Toshihisa in, then nudged the door close as quietly as possible - not without locking it. His friends were being extremely cautious for some reason, Takumi noted with confusion. It seemed almost like something major had happened. Akaike-kun and Toshihisa had resumed their conversation in measured whispers before he could react; tuning out his other thoughts for the time being, Takumi tried to focus on the dialogues with his eyes squeezed shut.

".. and he said that the police had Misu's room surrounded, just waiting for the door to open."

"They're getting agitated, and anxious. Some rumours about last night's events must've been passed around, before we took control of the situation," Akaike-kun replied, with distinct strain in his voice. "Damn it, Gii.."

"Should I get Shingyoji-kun to join us here?"

"He'd want to stay by Misu's side, in the hospital room."

_Misu-kun was in a hospital room?_ Takumi pondered, distracted by this news. _Why.. Could it be that he was injured, or ill?_

"Shingyoji-kun mentioned something interesting, though."

"Go on.."

"He said Misu claimed he injured his arm from falling down the stairs."

_Misu-kun's arm was injured- Wait, he fell down the stairs? ! When did something like this happen? !_

Takumi's eyes flew open in shock, but thankfully this went unnoticed before he recovered himself enough to shut his eyes again - the other two boys in his company were busy looking away. There was a momentary silence, disturbed only by the teenagers' heavy breathings. "Well," Akaike-kun sighed, and by the sounds beside him, Takumi guessed the other boy had collapsed into a chair. "That's really something.. For Misu to be doing something like this for Gii.."

"It's quite shocking, right?"

"Yes.. But it might be better if we kept it this way.. There's hardly a need to add to Gii's offences anymore."

"He also mentioned they might check the story with us again.. Just to see if the facts tally. Misu will contact us again."

Silence fell as the air-conditioning drowned out Toshihisa's words, as each of the teenagers sank into deeps thoughts. The conversation did not make any sense to Takumi - what was that about Misu's injury, and how was it related to his lover Gii? What had Akaike-kun meant by Gii's offences? What was it that Misu was 'doing' for Gii, and if he was injured, why was he lying about the cause of his injury? These were questions he had no answer to. To make things worse, there was no one he could ask for answers - not in his situation right now, unless he admitted to all the eavesdropping he had been unintentionally doing.

The stale silence drew longer and longer as the second hand of the clock on the wall ticked by - and in the quiet room, the sudden anxious knocking on the door was soon too loud to be ignored. In response, Akaike-kun and Toshihisa tensed immediately; they drew from their seats and stood by Takumi's bed, as though guarding him - shielding him from view. Takumi drew the sheets closer, his eyes wide with alarm. None of the boys shifted close enough to open the door, as though that was the last thing they would want to do.

To their rude shock, the door burst open - "Keys," Takumi heard Akaike-kun growl, and caught sight of the mentioned silver gleaming before it was slipped quickly out of sight - shouting, harsh and urgent, filled the room - someone shoving Toshihisa aside, and Takumi's crying out in surprise - heads whipped around in his direction, followed by what sounded like excited exclamations - nurses, perhaps even doctors, joining the chaos, shoving through the crowd in hopes to get closer to him - what was this commotion about, Takumi could not understand - someone reaching out to touch him, but was blocked by Akaike-kun - a heavy weight crushing down on him, a hand clamping down on his lips - the strong and sweaty scent jerking forward certain unpleasant memories..

Takumi screamed in fright, unaware that the sound had been issued from his own restricted lips..

Then a shadow fell, and the whole world went black.

* * *

Toshihisa glanced up at the clock hanging lonely on the wall, noting that it was already way past midnight before glancing at the unconscious figure of Takumi on the bed in the center of the room; and finally, shifting his eyes to gaze at Akaike Syozo, who was seated stiffly by his side. Following the chaos in Takumi's room which could have resulted in the worsening of Takumi's condition, all the Police authorities were banned from the entire floor where Takumi's and Misu's rooms were located by no one other than Misu's father - leaving them free to travel to and fro Takumi's and Misu's room with more ease. However, even so, Toshihisa realised that Akaike-kun was never relaxed.

"Do you want to take a rest first?" he asked the still-tensed discipline committee member tentatively. Toshihisa had taken a quick nap in the afternoon while Akaike-kun kept watch; now he was offering to do the same in return. However, the other boy only shook his head briefly before returning his reddened, tired gaze onto Takumi's sleeping form.

Nodding politely in response, Toshihisa lowered his eyes. It felt almost like Akaike-kun thought he was responsible for what had happened to Takumi this afternoon, but he was careful not to point his observations out.

He knew that even if he was correct, Akaike-kun was not a person who could be persuaded otherwise easily.

There were then quiet knocks on the door - three knocks in a specific rhythm, which the boys have agreed on to differentiate themselves from the staff or the police. Shingyoji-kun let himself into the room as silently as possible, not without stumbling a little as he closed the door. Finally, he sank into the chair beside Toshihisa's, and heaved a long, tired sigh.

"How's Misu doing?" Akaike-kun broke the wordless silence with an equally lethargic sigh, taking his eyes off Takumi at last.

"He just fell asleep.." Shingyoji-kun answered in a dull voice. Toshihisa noticed that Shingyoji-kun's eyes were red as well - as though he had been crying. "He refused to talk to me unless I told him what happened to Hayama-san, so.." he choked, before continuing, ".. it took me a while to convince him to sleep.."

"I'm sorry you had to keep numb about it too, Shingyoji-kun. The last thing we need is for Misu to rush over without regarding his own injury," Akaike-kun sighed, again. "It's been such a long day for all of us, even without all these problems.."

"That's why you should take a rest. The both of you," piped in Toshihisa suddenly, standing up, glancing firmly between Akaike-kun and Shingyoji-kun. "I'll keep watch here, go catch a quick nap or something."

Seeing how the two addressed boys looked like they were about to argue, Toshihisa held out his hands firmly and shook his head. "I'll be alright on my own. Besides, if you both want to properly take care of Takumi and Misu, you'll need all the energy you can get from resting."

Defeated and convinced, Akaike-kun stood up, dragging along with him the still-hesitating Shingyoji-kun. Together, the three boys made their way towards the door - Toshihisa had meant to send them out. Only when they open the door did they notice that there was someone standing outside - someone who had a fist raised, looking as though he had been thinking twice about knocking on the door.

"_Sagara-senpai? !_" Shingyoji squeaked, being the first to react. There was shock in his voice - and perhaps fear for some reason, unknown to Toshihisa.

"Oh, hey," Sagara-senpai laughed sheepishly, though he was glancing attentively between the three juniors standing in his view. "Did I choose to come at a wrong time?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 12 **

_(Earlier in the day..)_

Sawatori Satoshi, head of the Board of Directors of Shidou Gakuen Koutou Gakkou, had always prided himself to be a man of premonition. He trusted his six-sense when they warned him, because they have never proved him wrong.

So, this morning, when he woke up an hour before his usual alarm and couldn't fall back into sleep, when he took a shower and slipped badly in his bathtub, when he tried to fry himself a simple breakfast and almost burnt his entire kitchen down in flames, he knew that it would not be a brilliant, sunshine-filled day ahead. Something dark was coming his way, something undefined he had been dreading, something he soon confirmed as he stepped into Shidou Academy.

Standing on higher grounds and glancing down, Sawatori found himself over-looking a magnificent scene that should only be found in Television series - it was only seven in the morning, but the usually-emptied car-park near the edge of his school was flooded with police cars - lined neatly in the lots, each with its lights flaring and its sirens blaring. Vaguely Sawatori wondered if the whole school had been awakened by this mismatched symphony; there was already a crowd of students gathered near their dorms, pointing excitedly at the police piling out of their cars to assemble in a neat parade.

There was a man standing before the assembly with his back towards Sawatori. However, even in the distance, Sawatori could recognise that neat haircut, that wide back and that firm stance. It was his first prompt to hurry down to the man - this was serious business.

"A very Good Morning to you, Master Saki," Sawatori greeted as loudly as he could as he approached, breathlessly trying to adjust his necktie and his long-sleeve top. "It's so early- What can I possibly help you with?"

The addressed male turned around immediately, and Sawatori noticed how the said male had his handsomely-lined face tensed with what seemed like anger. "Ah, Sawatori Head Director ," Master Saki answered quietly, recognising Sawatori on first glance. "I apologise for not notifying you earlier regarding our visit, but we're running a race against time now."

"Of course, it's perfectly fine.. " Sawatori threw a nervous glance at the parade of police before continuing. "To what do we owe this visit to, Master Saki?"

With a quick gesture to their side, where the magnificent Music Hall stood in a quick distance, Gii's father uttered pointedly. "I believe that would be the Music Hall soon due for demolition? Has it been used lately? Any lessons, or has anyone entered it since two days ago particularly?"

How straight to the point this was - but this was to be expected, since this was Master Saki he was speaking to. Faced with the rapid questions, Sawatori could only react by answering honestly. "Yes, that would be that very hall.. It was roped out of bounds for quite some time now, and well.." Stuttering, faltering under Master Saki's strict, angered gaze, Sawatori fished out a handkerchief from his chest pocket, and wiped his brows nervously. "I doubt any of our students have dared try to enter the Music Hall.. N-Not especially after they got wind of what happened in there.."

"Did anyone come forth with a confession of some sort?" Masker Saki pressed on, taking a firm step closer towards the other man. "Or any witnesses, any accounts?"

Briefly tempted to withdraw himself, Sawatori resisted his instincts, and matched eyes hesitantly with the older man. "Not that I was informed of.."

"I see. Very well then. I suppose I could count on you, Sawatori Head Director , to grant us your permission for access to the Music Hall. I have the Bureau's forensic team with us today, as well as the police search team, and we wish to conduct a close examination of the entire Music Hall."

"What?" Sawatori exclaimed, stunned by the sudden request.

"I could have a search warrant ready if you wish, but I would prefer to keep this as toned-down as possible."

"No no, no need for a search warrant- it's perfectly fine.." breathed Sawatori, dabbing his handkerchief on his forehead rapidly. "I just.. Why, Master Saki, may I ask- why?"

Fierce, clear eyes still locked with Sawatori's, Master Saki pursed his lips, before continuing in a hard voice. "My son may be playful, but he is not a rash person. Whatever the rumours may be, I refuse to believe he had committed such a terrible act. As much as possible, I would like to gather evidences to point to the truth of the incident - whatever it may be, as well as to restore the confidence of my future son-in-law, who appears to be quite shaken even up till this very moment."

".. By future son-in-law, you don't mean.."

"I'm sure you understand, Sawatori Head Director."

With that, Master Saki turned away from Sawatori, barked a couple of instructions to the neat parade of police assembled before him, and led them straight towards the isolated Music Hall without looking back a second time.

* * *

_(Back at night - after midnight..)_

Syozo wasn't sure what he had expected from Sagara-senpai's random visit; the senior had allowed them only enough time to lock Hayama's room door behind them before dragging them - all three of them - down the corridor of the hospital without letting them know their destination. Shingyoji had squeaked nervously as they were ushered past Misu's room, but otherwise, the three of them hadn't spoken - not even once. It was Sagara-senpai who had kept talking, as though oblivious to the whole situation, bombarding them with what sounded like useless information about the happenings outside of the hospital while constantly telling them to 'loosen up'.

None of them were actually in any mood to listen to Sagara-senpai right then.

He also wasn't sure if he had expected himself to come face to face with Gii again so soon; they had last met just a night ago actually, where Gii had broken Misu's arm, but even that felt like it had taken place such a long time ago. Syozo wasn't sure if everyone has had enough time, since then, to organise their feelings and thoughts - he knew he hadn't tried sorting out his own.

As they filed into the conference room Gii was held incarcerated in temporarily, Syozo side-stepped out of their stiff single-file march and sighed heavily; only then did he finally look up to study his best friend's lonely figure seated at the other end of the long, conference table away from the door - stunned by what he saw.

Perhaps Gii was drained by the repeated interrogation, or just defeated by the police's accusations - Syozo didn't know; Gii did not respond as they knocked, and walked into the room. It was only upon studying his best friend did Syozo realise - if Hayama's mental turmoil had scarred Hayama himself emotionally, watching Hayama's mental turmoil and standing on the receiving end of it must have scarred Gii - emotionally AND mentally. The discipline committee member didn't think he would ever see that hollow look of defeat - that tortured look of guilt, remorse and agony on his best friend's face - but he was staring straight at it right now, and there was no way he could doubt what his eyes saw.

Was it the lighting of the room that was throwing shadows across Gii's thinned face? No, the lighting only helped emphasised the already sharp, skeletal lines of his best friend's features, and the pale pair of lips trembling with lethargy.

Had it been possible for one to thin so much in a single day? Syozo hadn't known, but now he did - after seeing Gii's void of an expression.

What had Gii been subjected to all this while?

Gii was not a weak person - but to think he would be pushed this far beyond his emotional limits.. The rapid turn of events against his relationship and his love must have been one hell of a torturous ride for Gii, coupled with whatever the police authorities had decided to throw in Gii's direction.

Behind him, Syozo heard the door slam shut; Shingyoji had been the last in the line, shying away from Sagara-senpai as though he was afraid of the senior. There was suddenly a loud gasp and Syozo knew, without having to turn around, that Shingyoji had finally caught sight of Gii. The atmosphere in the room dropped straight beneath the freezing point, excluding the corner of the room Sagara-senpai had chosen to settle himself in. As though cued in by Shingyoji's angry reaction at the sight of himself, Gii finally looked up to glance briefly at each of them, with an eternal gaze of saturated sorrow. When they - Syozo and Gii - locked gaze, Syozo could've sworn he saw Gii part his lips, saw the million questions that were running through his best friend's clouded eyes - but then the other boy glanced away, as though deciding that it was for the best if they did not converse.

"I said we wouldn't want to meet each other.." Gii mumbled as he finally rested his gaze on Sagara-senpai's surprised expression, sighing grimly in spite of everyone in the room.

"I'm going to do some story-telling, and I need all of you here to listen," replied the older male, unmoved by Gii's silent plea.

"Why are we here?" Shingyoji exclaimed, his voice trembling, conveniently ignoring Sagara-senpai's words, as to not able to see the torture already apparent on Gii's face. "After what Gii-senpai did to Arata-san.. After all of that.. Why are we still.."

"Please relax, Shingyoji.." Toshihisa pleaded weakly. "Let's listen to what Sagara-san has to say.."

That went totally ignored by Shingyoji too, Syozo realised from the withdrawn expression on the junior's face.

"What happened to Misu?" Gii asked, his voice a note higher than before - in genuine surprise. By his puzzled look, Syozo gathered that Gii had yet been informed about Misu's condition - and possibly even Hayama's, since he had been confined here with no one else but the police - who must have been withholding those information to torture the truth out of Gii. However, Shingyoji took that remark the wrong way; he suddenly charged forward from where he had been standing, tears welling up in his wide, rage-filled eyes, knocking into Syozo by accident - Syozo reacted only barely in time to the hold the junior back from launching himself onto Gii.

"What do you mean by what happened to Arata-san? ! You broke his hand didn't you? !" Shingyoji yelled, his voice rough with unrestrained emotions - namely anger, it seems. Syozo felt almost overpowered by the younger boy fuelled by fury, but thankfully Toshihisa had snapped out of his brief moment of shock, and had rushed forward to help restrain Shingyoji together.

"Enough, Shingyoji-"

"What? ! Misu's hand is-"

"Stop Shingyoji-kun, please stop!"

"He's no longer able to operate and it's all your fault-"

"Can't you stop and calm down, Shingyoji-kun? I didn't gather all of you here for you to fight." Sagara-senpai inserted appropriately, in a tone of supposed maturity - though the effect was slightly marred by a heavy trace of exasperation. At the sound of Sagara-senpai's voice, Shingyoji ceased his struggling at once and sank into a drained, formless pile on the floor - half-dragging Syozo and Toshihisa along with him.

"Arata-san.." Shingyoji managed in a small, broken voice as Syozo detached himself from the younger boy.

"Shingyoji-kun.."

"Misu- he.. I didn't.. Why didn't you mention it to me- You knew, didn't you, Sagara-senpai?"

Sagara-senpai glared at Gii before glancing at each of them in the room. "Would you have rather I did? Or the others actually, did you think we'd had fun keeping such things a secret? You would've broken down in guilt, Saki." The senior returned his gaze onto the addressed third year before continuing. "You would've ran out of here while freaking out, demanding to have your arm transplanted to Misu or something- I'm not even sure if that's possible to begin with."

The humourless mockery at point-blank range knocked the breath out of everyone in the room.

"Sagara-senpai.."

Finally stepping out from his corner of the room, Sagara-senpai sighed and approached the gathered group of teenagers away from Gii, reaching out a supporting hand for the fallen second year to help him up. Although he had flinched slightly upon contact with Sagara-senpai, Shingyoji did not complain as he was lifted from the floor with everyone's support, but he did let go of Sagara-senpai's hand fairly quickly - the small but sudden action was noticed by everyone who were by Shingyoji's side.

"Anyway.. Let's all take a seat, alright?" Sagara-senpai motioned easily at the conference table, and the office chairs neatly tucked beneath the long surface. Syozo shifted forward without second prompts, and Toshihisa followed while nudging Shingyoji along, and the three boys somehow settled themselves a stiff distance away from both Gii and Sagara-senpai; Gii was still sitting alone at one end of the table, and Sagara-senpai had chosen to cross over to the other side of the table.

As the sound of chairs squeaking died down, a stiff silence engulfed the teenagers in the room, quiet enough for them to all hear the heavy ticking of the clock hanging alone on the wall. Sagara-senpai sighed again - an exasperated sound like before. "Can't you guys talk? To each other, you know?"

Four pairs of eyes slowly turned to focus on Sagara-senpai , their gaze questioning the senior's sanity.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, the Music Hall at Shidou was officially placed under investigations this morning. Thought you guys might want to know."

"Eh?" The four pairs of eyes still fixed upon him told him that, as he had suspected, they didn't already know.

"You guys didn't listen to me at all while I talked, did you?"

".. We.."

"By who?" Syozo probed carefully, his voice tight with strain. "I mean, under whose authority?"

"Master Saki's." answered Sagara-senpai easily, as though he had meant to say it anyway. The teenage boys seated around him gave another chorus of "Eh?"s as they stared at Sagara-senpai with incomprehension. Gii's father ordered to have the Music Hall investigated? "It seems he led an entire forensic team in with him, everyone was surprised that Master Saki requested to enter the scene himself. No proper explanations were offered; though the rumours in school have it that Master Saki held investigations in hopes to clear Saki's name."

Upon hearing this, Syozo shot a quick glance at his best friend, and noted the complete look of surprise on the other third year's face. So Gii had not been made known to this as well.. Syozo hadn't expected Master Saki to be such a defensive father.

"Oh, and there were certain rumours about.. Some future son-in-law."

To their side, Gii choked on his saliva, and Syozo couldn't help but to sweat at the additional comment. He hadn't expected Master Saki to be a humourous father as well, not from the one-time face-to-face encounter he had had with the senior male.

"Well, at least this will help us find the real culprit responsible for hurting Hayama.."

"But.. Arata-san.. His hand.."

"Misu would definitely recover, Shingyoji-kun." Toshihisa interjected quickly, patting the younger boy on his back. "Believe in him!"

"If he's still the Misu Arata that I know, he'll be back up on his feet in no time," agreed Sagara-senpai.

As the teenage boys fell silent once more, Syozo took the chance to glance at his best friend again. Gii was studying the wooden surface of the conference table with a deep, sorrowful expression, his lips pursed into a firm, thin line. He appeared so far away from the rest of the group, but Syozo knew, against his own judgement, that he should leave things as it was for now - lest they wanted Shingyoji-kun to feel pressurised again..

"Anyway, Can we get back to business now? I have an important story I believe you boys should be informed about.."

At the sound of Sagara-senpai's usual exasperated tone, everyone looked up again and fixed their gaze upon the senior - although Syozo noted that Gii was staring in Sagara-senpai's direction without seeing. ".. Though I'm not sure if Shingyoji-kun is in any condition to hear it right now."

Suddenly conscious of all the eyes trained on him, Shingyoji flushed lightly and stuttered, "I-I want to hear."

"Don't say I didn't warn you beforehand- it's going to be about Arata- I mean, Misu-kun."

"Eh?"

Sagara-senpai gave another exasperated sigh. "Honestly, did any of you actually listened to me just now? At all?"

His question was answered immediately by the guilty glances shot in his direction.

* * *

He felt dazed, being only half-awakened; the slight but bright streaks of moonlight peaking through the window blinds were the culprits for waking him up. Raising himself from his bed, the annoyed third year shuffled over to the window to let down the binds completely - albeit a little clumsily, for he was only using one hand. As the whole room was finally plunged into a comfortable darkness, he yawned, and awkwardly raised his good hand to cover his mouth.

What time was it now, anyway? Misu thought, his head awfully heavy and muzzy. Thankfully, the room wasn't spinning around - so he was just sleepy, not confused or paralyzed by whatever analgesic they had decided to drug him with - but that would also mean his headache was not an after-effect of drugs pumped through his body. Groaning, Misu slowly groped his way back to his bed, and almost sank into a lethargic sleep once he made contact with the soft cotton.

However, something was keeping him awake - not his headache, but a nagging feeling in his mind. After discovering that closing his eyes did not help disperse the nag, Misu sighed and pushed himself out of bed again, and made for the door.

What was it about Hayama's condition that Shingyoji had refused to talk to him about? He had to find out.

As he exited the room out onto the dimly-lit corridor, Misu hastened a guess that it was really early - 2 or 3 in the morning, at most. Hayama should be asleep by now, but it wouldn't hurt to check on the other boy's physical condition. Groping his way through the semi-darkness, guided by the wall, Misu paced towards the room just beside his own, and reached out for the doorknob.

_Wait, the room should be locked right? Right, I don't have the keys with me now.._

Perhaps this was a sign that he should head back to bed, to get some sleep. Recovery would not come without rest, and if he wanted his arm to heal fast enough for him to punch Saki in the face in return, Misu supposed he should be getting all the sleep he could manage. Just as he was about to turn around, to make his way back to his room, Misu found himself pausing with his hand still on the doorknob - his body unwilling to leave, against the better judgement of his mind. Well, even if it was unlikely for the door to be unlocked, it wouldn't hurt to try since he was already here, he thought.

Blinking twice before twisting the doorknob gently, Misu almost jumped back in surprise to find the doorknob twisted all the way down.

_It can't be- the door was unlocked?_

The single 'click' from the lock told him that his suspicions were true.

Holding his breath, Misu swung the door inwards, and was stunned on the spot as he took a single step in.. Into a brightly lit room.

Once his eyes got used to the sudden brightness, Misu found himself staring at what was possibly one of the weirdest scenes he had ever witnessed, putting all the crazy things Shingyoji had done as attempts to bring a smile to his lips.

There Hayama was - wide awake, his eyes big with fear and then surprise, cowering against the head-rest of his bed, his pillow held high above his head in both hands as though he had been prepared to throw it across the room.

"Misu-kun?"

"Hayama?"

"What are you doing?" they both asked in unison, staring at each other with wide eyes, without comprehension.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

Edits: In case you're confused about why the chapter (previously chapter 16) has been re-uploaded.. This is the quickest way for me to let you guys know that I've made some changes to the chapter! Like, major changes! This is cued by one of this story's reviewer, SaphSoul (: Basically, the changes include the 'chocolate conversation' which was edited to better suit Misu's character, as well as the middle-part of Sagara-senpai's story, which talks about Misu and Misaki's relationship. Clarification: they did not do -that-! D: Misu's virginity is reserved for Shingyoji-kun xDDDD Sorry for the long A/N! Please enjoy this chapter!

**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"I had a sister - Sagara Misaki. She was a year younger than me, and she had studied at Shidou Academy."

Seeing that the boys around him immediately showed all signs of wanting to interrupt his story-telling, Sagara-senpai shot a warning glance at each of them - diverting their questions before he continued explaining with a softened expression. "She was in a condition similar to Hayama's, where she had an absolute fear of contact with other females - including our own mother, even. She derived it from a traumatic experience before she started high-school, we never got around to know what exactly did the girls around her do to her.. She wouldn't tell. It set her in a situation where there were no other schools she could enrol into, and she had been out of school for one entire year.. We were extremely grateful when the board of Shidou accepted her where others have rejected.

"The only condition was for her to attend Shidou as a boy, and to us that was nothing demanding at all. It was a new start for her - we were all excited. We began calling her 'Masaki' instead of 'Misaki', and as a student of Shidou I knew she would fit in one way or another.. You know, it's a small environment, so people tend to look out for one another. I just never expected her to get along so well with Arata-kun.

"She transferred in shortly after the school year begun, and they were both first years - I thought it might do her good to introduce her to as many people as possible, help her find some company. Arata-kun had been helpful as a junior, and he was out-going.. The way they first saw each other, it was like.. They made for each other. They clicked straight from the first meeting."

_"... not really a fan of sweet things in general.. Sorry."_

_"No way! You'd at least like chocolates right?"_

_Misu's brows furrowed for an instant as he recalled the many bad experiences he'd had with sweets and sugar rush - but there was no way he could push aside the enthusiastic question posed to him. "I.."_

_"I love chocolates! Milk ones over dark ones.. Here, I happen to have some with me - it's my favourite brand! They have the best milk chocolates, you know, they have this perfect creamy hazel colour.."_

_As he listened to his company's excited explanation, Misu looked up, and tried to sneak a peek at the boy Sagara-senpai had just introduced him too - Sagara-senpai's brother, he had said. The other boy - Masaki, caught his eyes almost immediately, and the both of them glanced away a brief second later; each with an embarrassed smile._

_Masaki held the chocolates out to him, and Misu took one out of politeness. The warm, milky cube melted immediately in his mouth, its heat slowly but surely seeping through his body - vaguely Misu wondered if that effect was caused by the chocolate only, or something else entirely._

_"Misu-kun, was it? Let's get along from here on, alright?"_

_Masaki's sweet, mellow voice was his cue, leading him straight down the rabbit-hole of love._

"Things were looking good for Misaki - a new school, new environment, new classmates.. A new friendship with Arata-kun. She was getting comfortable in Shidou, and soon she didn't need my help around the school anymore. I left her to herself and her friends most of the time, since my own third-year school term was starting to keep me busy.. But I felt reassured, seeing Arata-kun around Misaki. I knew I could count on him to take care of my younger sister - or my younger brother, but I've never really gotten used to calling her that.

"I don't even know when or how they started actually going out - I only got to know after hearing the rumours passed around. She laughed in affirmative when I asked her about it, but her smile dropped when I asked if Arata-kun knew that she was not a male. I could never forget that hurt look she wore when we talked about that issue that day.. We both knew that she would get into serious trouble with the board of Shidou should she be unable to keep her secret, but neither of us wished to lie to Arata-kun. It had been one emotional argument. She couldn't tell, and I kept stalling; homework to be done, various projects or work-based meetings with my classmates, tidying up my room or helping my roommate with his chores.. I didn't want to approach Arata-kun early in the morning in case he was still asleep or busy with work, and by the end of the school day, there would always be a new cycle of the same work to do.. Even though they were just excuses after excuses, even though we both wished we had told him sooner..

"If only we could turn back time and redo things a different way, then perhaps.."

_Misaki had never seen Arata angry before - and judging by the shell-shocked look on her brother's face, neither had he. She might have been able to handle a vocal battle, or a physical fight if either of them lost control, but this was nothing she could handle. This was nothing she had experience before._

_Misu Arata stood a little distance away from her, his face veiled by the shade of the great, ancient tree he stood under. Shidou was known for its scenic school grounds; the garden near the borders of Shidou had occurred to her as the best place for her confession, since it appeared to be one of the quiet, secluded areas students rarely visited. Now, she was regretting her decision._

_Even underneath that veil of shadows, they could see Arata's stoic, anger-lined features, and feel the intensive glare alternating between the two siblings._

_"Arata.." she breathed, her voice an airy, teary sound._

_The only response she received was the glare shot straight through her heart._

_"I-"_

_"Stop."_

_Her voice died immediately, carried away by the oddly chilly afternoon breeze._

_"I don't want to hear any more _excuses_."_

_The growl caught them both off guard, and Misaki could no longer bite back her sobs._

"It wasn't pretty when Misaki finally confessed about her secret. Their relationship was at its peak from what I could see. They had been fooling around - this I only learnt much later - getting physical bit by bit, as all teenage couples do, and that seemed to be how Arata-kun had found out.. No, they didn't cross the line yet, but if I knew they were capable of doing so already.. Arata-kun knew, or at least guessed, and was waiting for her to come clean - but she never did. Every single time Arata-kun brought the question up to either Misaki or I, we avoided answering directly.. We could not bring ourselves to tell the truth. Misaki finally gave in one day.. But we were a little too late. Arata-kun could no longer hold his disappointment, his anger and his sorrow at bay.

"It had been one messy fight, and it hadn't been kept between the three of us."

_Misu didn't know how it happened, but all he knew was that he couldn't stop himself; one moment he had his back against the tree, shutting his ears against the many excuses Sagara-senpai and his lover were trying to get through to him.. In the next, he was dashing forward, hands reached out to grab his lover by the collar - his lover, Masaki or whatever her name was, his lover whom he had just confirmed had been a girl all this while.._

_She had been saying something about how he should be feeling happy instead of enraged, because it was a good thing for their relationship now that they would not need to face the criticism of the public.. But that was not the issue. His issue with her was how she had kept this a secret from him.. All this while. His real issue was with how she had refused to inform him earlier._

_This was nothing but a betrayal of his trust for her._

_Misu was not surprised to be lifting Masaki- or Misaki, now that he knew- off the ground by her collar._

_He knew he was hurting her, but at that moment he could only sneer when he heard her sharp cry of pain, when he saw that Sagara-senpai was frozen to the spot. His eyes could only see her and no one else but her, but even the sight of her beautiful face twisted in pain and sorrow could not move him enough to let her down._

_Misu could not remember how long he had held her there, listening to her tiny whimpers of pain. His entire body felt like it was on fire, the fire known as rage burning down the last bit of his senses and biting at his heart. He- She, had been his first love, but now she was.. No more._

_He remembered ripping apart the frail buttons of her top as he released her onto the ground - heavily._

_He remembers the dull 'thud's of scattering buttons as she cowered against the grassy grounds, a hand shielding her chest - bandaged._

_"We're over," was all Misu recalled himself spitting out bitterly as he finally mustered enough courage to walk away._

"And then it was everywhere - rumours about Misaki, of her actual gender and of her break-up with Arata-kun.. We should've checked for others in the garden, but we were all too occupied to care. The expel letter came immediately afterwards, but that was not the biggest blow to her. She had lost Arata-kun, and the expel letter from the board of Shidou only acted as a means of escape from a place of memories for her. She didn't mind getting expelled - she acted like it was a consolation for her, since she would no longer need to see Arata-kun anymore.

"As for Arata-kun.. I became the only person he could talk to. He didn't have many friends to begin with, and Misaki had been his life in school.. When that was over, he isolated himself from the rest of the gossiping student body, from the rest of his friends who were never really close to him. Arata-kun went into withdrawal, but when he could hold it in no more, I was the only person he could turn to.

"And once Misaki had returned to our home in Tokyo, we lost all forms of contact."

_Sagara knew, the moment he saw Arata-kun's trembling figure cowering against the corner of the darkly lit room, the moment he noticed the pale gleam of a cellphone's display glowing weakly among the mess of encircled limbs, that Arata-kun was drowning in his sorrows and memories again. He could easily cover the physical distance with a couple of large strides, but he had no confidence in covering the emotional distance between himself and Arata-kun._

_Arata-kun suddenly gasped, stifling a sob with a harsh jerk of his body. It seemed the younger boy had not noticed his presence, Sagara noted - but it did not make him feel any better. He felt helpless, trapped between wanting to comfort both of the two persons in his life he really wanted to care for._

_Sagara reckoned he should've walked away right then, but he knew it was impossible for him to leave Arata-kun alone._

_Clearing his throat to make his presence known, Sagara plastered a firm, neutral expression on his features, and strolled slowly towards the other shivering male. Arata-kun jumped slightly, startled, but soon settled back against the wall in a boneless pile when he identified his company._

_"Sagara-senpai.." The weak, emotionless tone ran pity straight through the senior's veins, but he took care not to show it._

_"She did not leave to have you stay in this state," Sagara murmured, halting just an arm's length distance away._

_It took the younger boy all his strength to raise his head. "She's no longer here, Sagara-senpai.."_

_It took the older male all his perseverance to lock gaze with the other. "Arata-kun.. She would not have chosen to go.."_

_The sound of a fist slamming hard against the wall reverberated through the room as the two teenagers were plunged into a permanent, stale silence._

"Arata-kun was losing it. He was lifeless in and out of lesson, and he would avoid every other location apart from his classrooms and his dorm room. He stopped going to his usual locations in fear of breaking down - the school garden, the courtyard, some broom cupboard they managed to find.. I don't really know. There were more, I'm sure, from their memories I wouldn't know of. It took me a long time to coax him into talking to me, then an even longer time to get him out of depression. I had to see ahead of every single of our conversations, because Arata-kun would somehow bring himself to a place of memories; then he would break down there, with or without people around, and it was near impossible to stop him once he started. It had been one tough fight.. Although it was a fight we had won eventually.

"Of course, Arata-kun suffered the side-effects of his long period of withdrawal.. His character was warped after the major betrayal of his trust which he had experienced. I'm not sure if Saki would remember any encounters with Arata-kun before- well, before Misaki was transferred out of Shidou.. If you do, you too would doubt the apathetic, aloof and cynical Misu Arata you're all so familiar with right now..

"But at least he was smiling again, albeit only smirking cynically.. It was already a great improvement from before. Things were finally starting to get significantly better - and you came along, Shingyoji-kun. I was convinced - you were like the last piece to the puzzle, the last push Arata-kun needed to get back onto the track called 'life'. Besides, I've never seen him take interest in another person after Misaki's incident.. I was surprised he actually remembered your name only after one short encounter in the entrance exams."

_Sagara stared, in utter disbelief, at the younger boy bursting into tears right in front of him. He wasn't sure what he had done - or perhaps it was what he had said, actually, that had urged the other teenager to start crying. He wasn't sure what to say - or if he should be saying anything at all, lest he worsened the situation._

_"Oh my- no don't- what's wrong-"_

_"Tsk tsk, Sagara-senpai. I never knew you had an interest of bullying our freshmen even before they were properly enrolled into Shidou."_

_The cool voice laced with amusement reached them from behind Shingyoji-kun's back; the younger boy whipped around immediately, and comically, at the sound of the voice. Sagara noticed vaguely that Shingyoji-kun had stopped crying almost at once._

_"I didn't bully him into crying- he seemed bothered about something, and I only offered to help."_

_Beneath his small, false pout, Sagara studied the two younger males in front of him attentively. He raised an eyebrow as he watched Arata-kun reach out a comforting hand to rest on Shingyoji-kun's shoulder, but said nothing as he listened to the quiet exchange between them both. Curiosity was written all over his face, but Sagara bit back his questions to the best of his abilities as Arata-kun suggested that he would bring Shingyoji-kun to the cafeteria._

_Reaching into his pocket, Sagara pulled out a couple of notes and passed them to Arata-kun. "Go get a drink or some food for the freshman," he suggested absent-mindedly, studying the youngest boy amongst them shamelessly. It was quite a wonder how Arata-kun had remembered Shingyoji-kun's name only after a single, short encounter._

_"Alright," Arata-kun nodded, reaching out and naturally taking hold of Shingyoji-kun's hand._

_It had been a firm, confident gesture - Sagara noted with satisfaction, and decided he would leave those two by themselves from now._

* * *

Misu strolled across the room towards Hayama, not without locking the room door first; Hayama's reaction to his entrance had been proof enough that the door should not be left unlocked. Misu was only thankful he didn't get a pillow straight to the head immediately when he entered the room - why was the door unguarded in the first place? Hayama must have dared not approach the door to snap the lock in place.

As he approached, the other third year on the bed immediately shifted, lowering the pillow in his hands while freeing up enough space on the bed for Misu to join him sitting and leaning against the head-rest.

"Thanks," said Misu as off-handedly as he could manage as he shuffled onto the bed.

"Mmm," came Hayama's usual wordless reply as he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position.. Which put the two teenage boys in an awkwardly close position, although neither of them voiced out any discomfort at that.

A long moment of silence dragged itself out as the two boys sat quietly by each others' side. Misu guessed he ought to start a conversational topic - but what was there to talk about? It hardly seem funny talking about why they were both staying in the hospital; apparently, Hayama had been considering along the same line as well.. The conclusion was that there was really nothing else to talk about.

"How's your arm feeling?" the smaller male asked tentatively, looking up and peeking through his long, hazel hair at the taller boy.

"Dead," Misu replied absent-mindedly, mentally waving away the worry that had chewed its way into his mind along with thoughts of his parents and the hospital while catching Hayama's eyes. "At least I'm not feeling the pain now, so it just feels like I've lost the entire arm."

"Oh.." Hayama replied quietly, guilt apparent on his pained expression. "I.. I'm sorry, I want to apologise on Gii's behalf, I'm sure he didn't mean to-"

"You don't have to. I was partly at fault for trying to stop him," sighed Misu, finally looking away. That didn't change how he still wanted to punch Saki straight in the face, though. "Besides, this is nothing too serious. I'll recover soon." This part was true enough - he had to recover if he wanted to return Saki the favour.

Another silent moment engulfed the pair of teenagers; this time, to Misu, it felt like Hayama was having difficulties phrasing what he wanted to say - but Misu was in no rush to interrupt. When Hayama finally decided, Misu looked up to catch his eyes, only to notice with surprise that a certain guilty gleam in the younger boy's eyes.

"I hope you'll recover soon, too," Hayama murmured, closing his eyes and resting his head on the taller male's shoulders.

Misu almost jumped in surprise, but he held himself back. He wasn't sure if he would be able to hold his self-control back, though.

"Hayama.."

"Hmm?"

"I was told your phobia of human contact had returned."

"Eh? Oh.. I don't know.. Maybe.. The phobia doesn't affect me when I'm with you.."

The younger boy's voice was trailing off softly with lethargy, and it did not take him long to drift to sleep. Misu soon found himself seated beside a boy fast asleep, but he was unable to move away because Hayama's head was still on his shoulder, holding him in place. With another sigh, Misu reached out his good arm and wrapped it around Hayama's shoulder, pulling the younger boy closer to himself slightly, and settled against the head-rest of the bed.

"You know, it's really not fair for you to say something like that, Hayama.."

Misu wasn't sure if he would have enough energy to keep awake until the long night was over.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

In my long period of absence (blame the design school please D:) the movie PURE has been released! Have you gotten your copy and watched it yet? If you haven't, there are already soft copies floating around on the internet! :3 Whether you've already watched it or not, do note that this story isn't directly related to the movie 'Pure', okay? Though, of course, I've made major referencing to 'Pure' regarding Misu and Shingyoji's parts.  
The background music (theme) used throughout the entire movie was so beautiful. The downloads are available - the song is excellent music for relaxation and for Takumi-kun Series related writing muse.

Sorry for this long, long overdue chapter..  
**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

"That's not the end of the story, is it? Sagara-senpai.."

It would have been comforting to have Misu's story end on a positive note - however it would explain not the purpose of this session Sagara-senpai had put in so much effort to arrange for. Unable to bite back his question any further, Syozo broke the long note of silence everyone had sank into, choosing to (once again, as always) play the matured role more often rejected by others.

The heads twisting around to stare in his direction shot gazes of question, of relief and of appreciation at him - confirming his suspicions. Everyone wanted the story continued; none of them dared to ask.

"I've hoped that would be the end to this story.. But no, it's not," Sagara-senpai answered in a defeated sigh, dragged from the midst of his recalling of previous cheerful turn of events. "It was.. As much as I could tell, the peak to this story.. From then on things just kept going downhill. I'm sure Shingyoji-kun had noticed it too - how Misu's smile was gradually disappearing, how his temper was gradually worsening, how he started keeping to himself more and more.. All because my sister had, in a way, returned.."

_Maybe it was the tears in his eyes - or the shivering hands clutched into fists - or the terrible tremors wrecking through his thin frame - Misu suddenly found himself blinded, his sight stolen from him, a blank darkness left in its place. Broken phrases from the one-sided conversation jumped at him from memory along with fresher quotations - and ironically, since he was eavesdropping unintentionally through a small crack of the door, he wasn't quite supposed to catch his senior's words that well at all. There was no reason for the conversation to burn itself into his memories - although unfortunately, that was what was happening right now._

_Sagara-senpai had the annoying habit of parroting the person he was on the phone with, inserting his thoughts seamlessly as he did so to complete the entire monologue. Misu had always teased his senior about it, but he had never stopped to consider that it would one day turn to haunt him in this manner._

_"She's been hospitalized?_

_"Assaulted- you can't be serious! Why did she- no, please don't tell me she.._

_"She went and- oh, my god, that's as good as suicidal.. She knew those girls wouldn't let her off-_

_"Oh lord- why- what have they done.. How is she now?_

_".. .. .. Will she be okay..?"_

_The moment his knees hit the carpeted floor of the dormitory corridor was the moment Misu knew he was no further out of the influence that particular girl had on him - as much as he had tried convincing himself otherwise._

_"Arata-kun- he.. I don't know if I should let him know, it's all so sudden- she's been out of contact, and-"_

_Misu's eyes widened in fearful anxiety as Sagara-senpai's voice faltered._

_".. I'm not sure if we should let Arata-kun know.."_

"Misaki- she, well, I don't know why, but what I heard was that she went and engaged those girls from her middle school, the root of the trauma she was trapped in.. Picked a fight with them, that's what my mother told me- she landed herself straight in the hospital badly injured and drained in spirits.. Up till this date I can still not understand why exactly she had done so. 'Suicidal perhaps'? My mother had suggested. Misaki had not taken the break up with Arata-kun any easier than Arata-kun had did.. I heard she was as lifeless as he had been while she was back home. She might have been trying to end things on her end.. And we can never know because she refused to tell anyone- she refused to see anyone but my mother, for that matter, with the only exceptions being myself and, well, Arata-kun..

"She requested to see him - begged our mother to pass the message to me, and Arata-kun in turn. Misaki didn't have much time left- I don't know what those girls did to her, but it had been one messy, bloody fight.. The police suspected the fight wasn't just kept within the girls, after examining the damages my sister sustained. Half of Misaki's ribs were badly fractured and she had fragments penetrating her lungs.. It had damaged her ability to breathe. The doctors told us she would heal, but it would take much time and will.. And her will was nowhere strong enough to tide her through this most difficult period..

"Maybe she wanted the end this way- maybe not with this much pain, but something of this fashion.. And on top of that she wanted to see Arata-kun one last time. When I heard the request.. I- in all honesty, even though she was my sister, I wanted to say 'no' on his behalf, on the spot, right across the line. It wasn't fair to Arata-kun, I thought, but.. Misaki.. She was still my sister..

"I didn't mean for Arata-kun to find out about this in such a horrible way - eavesdropping, you know, that's hardly like Arata-kun.. But he found out, and I noticed him at the door only after I hung up the call, his eyes void of any trace of expression.. I'm not sure what when through his mind, or if anything got there at all- he went all.. Blank. Almost as if he was devastated, in denial.. Or both. After that we went hounding each other for the full story cause neither of us fully understood what the other knew but saw the need to do so, and when we finally made things clear.. He took in my side of the story fast and went straight back to his emotionless void, but me.. I don't know. I took Arata-kun's side of the story badly. I'd never thought that my sister had been trying to contact Arata-kun all these while..

"It wasn't as though they were talking- I mean, according to Arata-kun, she kept calling but he kept rejecting. She'd send Arata-kun messages, but Arata-kun deleted them without reading them at all. To top that my sister was never too patient a person either- she was bad at dealing with rejection. The pestering stopped after a couple of months, according to Arata-kun, but I was surprised she even lasted that long.."

And as Sagara-senpai's voice trailed off this time, no one else had the heart to break the incoming, breathless silence.

* * *

Why did the world so badly want him to suffer? Misu didn't know. All he knew was that he could not remember any single moment of his life where he wasn't suffering - his sorrows were always powerful enough to dull even the happiest memories. These tortures gradually faded with time but they would not disappear, and every single time he was convinced he would soon recover, something worse would come. They accumulated, one on top of another, snowballing into something more complicated each time he stopped to examine his situation - and it would not stop. Things wouldn't improve, and he certainly couldn't see his troubles suddenly disappearing altogether.

While hope appears as a beam of light for most, Misu would describe it as a pathetic, almost non-existent spark for himself.

To Misu, his life was a strict struggle of expectations on top of responsibilities, a race to keep up with the people around him; like an unsatisfactory game of life, always demanding from him without giving him a breather. Sometimes, hope and joy would come to him like a shining beacon dangled at the end of a line; most of the time he would take the bait, and lose it to another round of suffering and regret. Misu was quite convinced he would never be able to turn the tables around.

Why was he made a player? Misu really wanted to know; to find the creator of this game, to drag him out and to torture him and his game out of existence.

The third year boy found himself standing dazed in a light drizzle, the wet drops plastering his hair against his handsome features. Why was it raining, Misu didn't know; maybe it was reflecting his mood. Time seemed trivial compared to the burdening weight in his heart, and briefly Misu felt like he should walk away from his spot, or at least get to somewhere else instead of stopping in this moment in the rain.. But there was no shelter, nor were there umbrellas or such for him to use as a shield from the cool drizzle. If anything, the rain was so feather-soft, he barely felt it sliding down his skin.

The only, possibly worse thing was how Misu had no idea how did he get here, or what he was seeking out here in the rain.

Surrounding him was but a blur of water-colours, the heavy and lacklustre shades doing little to help improve his mood.

What brought him back to Earth was a pair of warm hands suddenly coming to rest gently on either side of his cheeks. In the rain, he found himself locking gaze with the girl whom he had came to love, slightly startled by how she had approached him without his notice. Studying how her wet, fallen fringe was framing up her gentle countenance, Misu only had time to blink twice before she suddenly closed the distance between them, and matched his lips with her own.

A familiar but missed heat burst from his chest - Misu could feel it surging through his frame as he traced the lips he had long memorised with his tongue, eliciting a muffled moan from the girl he had leaning against his frame. Prompted to continue, Misu reached out and drew the girl closer till he completely closed the gaps between them, and cheekily sneaked his tongue into her parted lips. She nibbled on the intruding tease lightly, her own sign of encouragement which Misu recognised instantly - running a hand through her still-cropped boyish haircut, the third year boy angled the girl's head up, and drew their tongues into a heated, wet dance.

However perfect this picture was, Misu knew that it was wrong - wrong in the sense that this wasn't supposed to be possible.

The Masaki- no, Misaki that he knew had already..

Denial was not an alien emotion to Misu - not to the point where he could remain innocently ignorant about it - but questioning his current situation seemed unnecessary when it all seemed so faultless. Why doubt the girl standing so real before his eyes? Why push her away to make way for what could undoubtedly, only, be pain?

They broke apart from the kiss, demureness heavy but artful between their frames as they sneaked peeks at each other through fluttering eyelashes and rain-plastered fringes. Misu felt his lips twitch with his efforts of trying to hold back a smile, the emotion foreign on his features - how long had it been since he had last allowed himself to smile? His control finally broke as he caught his sweetheart's, and Misu could no longer fight against the foreign emotion pulling across his lips.

He held out a hand, trembling with anticipation until she slipped her own into his, taking it with a firm nod.

Then they were off, Misaki leading him through the rain with seemingly no target..

* * *

_It's back - that same soft, but pained expression.._

How long had he sat here, awake, watching the other third year boy sleep? At least a good half an hour since he himself woke up, Takumi hastened a quick guess. Once again, he found himself shifting slightly on the bed to keep his legs from going numb. He was sitting in a restricted position, an awkward distance much too close to Misu-kun - Takumi had found it impossible to release Misu-kun's grasp from his shoulder. In this situation he was unable to glance at the clock to confirm the time; all he could see was the side profile of Misu-kun deep in his sleep..

_And Misu-kun really fidgets a lot as he slept_, Takumi thought.

Sometimes, Misu-kun would murmur in a soft, mostly inaudible voice; and occasionally, Takumi found he could almost hear Misu-kun mentioning a name or so..

Shuffling again, this time tucking his legs inwards so that he could draw his arms around himself, Takumi stole a quick look at the older, sleeping boy by his side. Misu-kun was frowning once again, his eyes squeezed shut as though in agony, his lips trembling without letting any words escaping from them. Maybe Misu-kun was having a nightmare, Takumi thought. For a brief moment he wondered if he should wake the other boy up, but something held him back from making the decision..

Takumi just wasn't sure what exactly it was.

The lack of things to do was a prompt for him to exercise his mind, and once he started thinking, he couldn't stop.

His brief conversation with Misu-kun before he had accidentally slipped off into unconsciousness just a while ago had revealed important pieces of information for him - now it seemed almost like a game for him to piece them together like pieces of a puzzle. Misu-kun had not denied that it was indeed Gii who had injured him - he even elaborated by saying it was his fault for 'holding him back'. What had Misu-kun been holding Gii back from? His only recent, and possible recollection of Gii being in the same room as Misu-kun was that night where he had lashed out accidentally at Gii. However, on that night before he was left alone in the room, he could only recall having Gii in his line of sight - everyone was present only as voices in his memory, since he could see no one but Gii that night.

_Could it be that Misu-kun had been holding Gii back from entering the room?_

That made absolutely no sense to Takumi, because there was no reason for Misu-kun to do that to Gii..

The grip on his shoulder suddenly tightened, and it jerked Takumi out of his thoughts fast. For a brief moment Takumi thought that Misu-kun had awakened, but he soon realised it wasn't so upon seeing the agonized frown on his friend's side profile. Takumi jumped as he suddenly noticed how he didn't like the way Misu-kun's brows furrowed, or the way Misu-kun's lips trembled; it reminded him thoroughly of the tortured expression he had caused his lover, Gii, to show on his face..

_I.. Must have made Gii feel that pain again that night I lashed out at him.._

At that realization, Takumi felt his eyes moist up as a rush of sorrow and guilt swallowed him from within.

A long moment later, Takumi reached out a hesitant hand and slowly smoothed the creases of Misu-kun's brows - at this point, this felt like the only thing he could do for the boy trapped in his nightmares. As for Gii, he would definitely apologise to his lover once they met again, and promise to make up for such a grave mistake of his - that would be his first priority, Takumi promised himself silently.

He only hoped that Gii would be alright right now..

Takumi had not noticed that the grasp Misu-kun had on his shoulders had slackened; he only realised it when he felt Misu-kun stir beside him yet again. Pulling his hand back, Takumi glanced up at the other third year boy, and caught his breath fast as he saw what was unmistakably a tear drop gathering at the corner of Misu-kun's eye..

"Shingyoji.."

The breath stuck in his throat was suffocating, but Takumi dared not even breathe - as though he feared that even the slightest sound would wake the other boy up, or disturb what he thought he was going to hear..

".. Move.. Don't-.. .. Please.."


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

Sorry for this long, long overdue chapter..  
**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Sagara-senpai had stopped, to catch his breath while looking away - Syozo noted attentively that their senior had been speaking in gradual rushed anxiety, and how the older male was breathing heavily as though in pain. It was a long note of silence that they had fallen into. However, before he had the chance to voice it out, Sagara-senpai continued.

"For the first few days after the eavesdropped conversation, I couldn't read Arata-kun at all. He was.. Void. Of emotions. A total blank- there wasn't any other way to put it. It was horrible talking to him- I believed he avoided Shingyoji-kun at the same time too.. I was the only person he could show this side of him to. It took him a good week to snap out of it, and when he finally did..

"He went into complete denial." Sagara-senpai carried on after a long sigh uninterrupted by the others.

_Being an important member of Shidou Academy's Alumni association gave Sagara constant and heavy school-related paperwork, but at least it provided him with an excuse to constantly be seen on the school grounds. Sagara found Arata-kun out in the courtyard in the lazy afternoon sun; the younger boy was leaning heavily against one of the bigger trees spread across the freshly trimmed grass, his eyes shut in pain - as though he was experiencing an afternoon nightmare._

_"Arata-kun," Sagara called out - not soft enough to be ignored, but not loud enough to disturb should the addressed be in deep sleep._

_Not to his surprise, Arata-kun cracked his eyes open, sneaked a swift glance at his addressee before relaxing his expression into a slightly pained smile._

_"Yes, Sagara-senpai?" the younger boy replied as he slowly shut his eyes again._

_"Shingyoji-kun was looking for you," Sagara lied easily, knowing fully this might even be the truth, closing the distance between them with light steps._

_Arata-kun's eyelids flew open, revealing the deep auburn hidden beneath them as he studied Sagara fully. "Hmm," he hummed, neither asking for any confirmation nor elaboration._

_"Say, Arata.." Sagara began, tentatively, since Arata-kun was giving out the impression that he wished to be undisturbed. Reading the younger boy's raised brows as a safe sign to continue, Sagara inhaled deeply, and continued. "About Misaki.."_

_"What about Misaki?" Arata-kun was quick to interrupt him before he could elaborate further, in a tone of polite disinterest._

_"The call you overheard.."_

_"The call I overheard?" Arata-kun echoed, a small look of incomprehension distinct in his features._

_"You know, about Misaki.."_

_"I don't know what you're talking about," Arata-kun frowned, not in anger but in visible frustration, his brows furrowed only so slightly as if to emphasize that. "I have to go- Shingyoji-kun is looking for me, right? Senpai?"_

_Before Sagara had had the chance to comment further, Arata-kun had slipped from his side towards the school buildings without another word, leaving Sagara standing alone, staring in Arata-kun's disappearing silhouette with his lips parted in answer.._

_Sagara-senpai pursed his lips together into a tight line, and when he parted them again, Arata-kun was long gone._

_"Arata-kun.."_

"Total rejection- there was no better way to describe that. Complete disregard, complete refusal to believe that her side of the story, as heard from me, had been true. It was as if he had wiped that section of his memories, as if he had forced a stopper at the bottleneck of his emotions; he believed that she had left him, for good, and I don't know how he saw it- it was as though he's saying he wouldn't bother anymore- or that he shouldn't bother about her at all.. He pretended that he hadn't ever overheard the conversation between my mother and I, pretended that he didn't know the condition Misaki was in..

"I don't know what I felt about that, and I'm sure Arata-kun couldn't put a finger to his true emotions, either..

"But Misaki's condition was worsening, and she wasn't someone I could just turn a blind eye to like how Arata-kun was doing. To visit her at the hospital in Tokyo I needed to inform the school, and to apply for leave from all the paperwork I was given by the board of directors I needed time.. I needed to know if Arata-kun would want to join me, although I could very much see it was a 'no'. I would've loved to leave it as that, but when I first visited Misaki in the hospital.. The way I saw things changed.

"It was one thing to hear about her condition, and another to see her in it."

_The first things he noticed on Misaki were the tubes hanging from all over her frame - there was no way anyone could miss those unwanted accessories. They were mostly clear while some were in blood - connecting her to the IV, monitoring her bodily condition, supplying air to her through a face mask that hindered her ability to speak. Her robes hung loosely to her already thinned frame, with spare strands of her sweat-plastered fringe lining her hollow, tired closed lids. She was buried in the thick, white sheets, her figure frail against the cotton bed-lining. As Sagara stepped into the room, he couldn't help but to wince at the sight of the state his sister was in. However, as quietly as he'd tried to shut the door behind him, he was still unable to keep her from noticing._

_Misaki had never been a light sleeper._

_"Mummy..?" she asked weakly, her voice clouded beneath her face mask, her eyelids stirring feebly as she tried to fight against the unknown weight pushing them down._

_"It's me," Sagara sighed as he padded silently towards his sister's bed._

_At the sound of her brother's voice, Misaki's eyes flew open. "Arata-"_

_Sagara was stunned for a full second before he shook his head minutely with his eyes closed. ".. I tried.."_

_"He.. He couldn't come..?" she breathed._

_".. He wouldn't come.." he sighed._

_Looking up, Sagara noted how Misaki's face had fallen significantly. "I'm sure-"_

_Sagara swallowed painfully as Misaki's down-casted face shot up in hopeful anticipation at the sound of his voice again._

_"I'm sure.. He'll want to come soon, Misaki.."_

_She mumbled something Sagara couldn't catch, and her expression relaxed beneath the still-misted mask she wore._

_Seeing her feeble smile, Sagara couldn't quite bring himself to berate his decision of lying to his own sister - the white lie he had tried, but failed to hold back.._

"I was caught in between. Misaki was kin and I couldn't quite say she deserved my lie, but I also could not justify putting Arata-kun through another round of emotional turmoil he had already been through once, no- more than once, I believed. She was weakening with every passing second, with every breath she took, but at least.. At the least, I hoped.. That I had been able to lift her slightly with hopes of seeing Arata-kun for one last time. My mother had wanted to come down to Shidou from Tokyo, personally, to see Arata-kun and to beg him face to face - hoping that his guilt, his love or whatever remains of his feelings for her could bring him to see her for one last time.. But I told her no, flatly - I told her I could, and that I would be the one to move Arata-kun to change his mind.

"But could I, really? What would I do? I could not even move myself enough to see the need to convince Arata-kun to go..

"The way I saw it, the question was no longer whether she could hold on long enough till Arata-kun changed his mind.. The question now was whether she could hold onto that white lie I had left her with until after her last moment.. Whether the false hope could last.."

The atmosphere in the room had been dropping, and now it was thick and steady as ice; as Sagara-senpai paused to break from the stream of sorrowful memories, the rest of the boys felt their breaths held fast at their chests as they digested the scenes Sagara-senpai had painted into their minds with his words.

It was not a pleasant painting..

"I didn't see- I didn't try to see.. If only I had realised, even slightly, that Arata-kun had had himself trapped in a dilemma of his own back then, the situation might have been salvaged.. Arata-kun never blamed me, but I.. I was one who threw away their last chance to reconcile.."

_Misu's knuckles whitened from his deathly grip on the doorknob of his dormitory room; he had rudely chased his roommate away with the excuse that he hadn't been feeling well, that he needed time alone. He was at war with himself like never before and it wasn't pretty - his mind was at a death match with his heart, pitting his logic against his emotions and challenging his will; it was ripping him apart from inside out._

_It felt like his heart was trying to tear its way out of his chest._

_Does the Angel and the Devil really co-exist within each and everyone? Misu wished they didn't, not at least for him. If it hadn't been so, he wouldn't have to pit his desperate desire to wrench the door open against his frantic urge to stab something sharp through his heart so that it would stop._

_He wanted to leave, to run his way till he reached her side in her hospital, to tell her he'd never forgotten her all this while, to hold her hand and to assure her he'd be right there with her till she recovered._

_He also wanted to leave, to go get knocked down by some speeding vehicle so he would never have to remember again._

_Misu shook with all the effort he was putting into keeping himself rooted to the spot at the door. A growl ripped its way up his throat, but it stopped short behind his pursed lips as he felt moisture build up beneath his squeezed-shut eyelids._

_He wished he could die, because he knew.. Neither side would win, because neither side could lose._

_By his side, his phone suddenly rang- the shrill notes gave him an excuse to step aside from the war inside him. Steadying himself, Misu reached out and grabbed the phone roughly, not pausing as he held it to his ear in an awkward fashion no one else would see._

_"Hello-" _This had better be distracting enough_, Misu prayed._

_".. Arata..?"_

_The familiar voice on the other side of the line stopped his heart and froze his frame._

_He had not remembered to check the I.D. of the in-coming call._

"Just a couple of days after I returned from Tokyo, her condition took a turn for the worst. Her body had been in a very fragile state, and she had been aggravated by something - I don't know, I was only informed about all of these much later.. By the time the doctors were summoned there was barely anything they could do except to make the end less painful for her.. Our mother was the only person left by her side - I wasn't informed right then so I couldn't make it to be there with her in her last moments.. And Arata-kun spent the entire afternoon locked up in his room. I had been waiting outside of his room to have a talk with him until his roommate came along and informed me that Arata-kun hadn't been feeling well. The poor boy said Arata-kun had been in a mess for a bit before this, and there wasn't much he could've done.. But I decided to wait anyway, just in case Arata-kun decided that he needed someone by his side..

"When the call from my mother finally came, it had been a good half an hour after Misaki had.. Passed on.. She had went peacefully, with a smile- My mother told me. She- my mother- had been settling certain paperwork, she told me, in a small broken voice that held not half her demeanour.. So I told her I would return to Tokyo to help her - tie up the loose ends, or settle the rest of whatever, so she could take a break from all of this in the meantime.. But she rejected my offer. She told me that an important package from Misaki was sent and is on its way to Shidou - she made it clear that she wanted me to stay here to receive it.

"Even though she didn't state it specifically, even though his name wasn't at all mentioned, from the tension in her voice I realised that the package wasn't for me - it was for Arata-kun. I don't know what was going on in her mind - maybe she wanted me to stay here just to see him receive it, and to pass the news back to her..

"She didn't leave me with any space to argue, and I didn't think of doing so either, so..

"It was well past midnight before Arata-kun finally was willing to exit his room that day. I directed his poor roommate to spend a night in the room provided for me by Shidou since he was shut out, and when Arata-kun came out he was obviously surprised to find me waiting outside. I will never forget his expression when he first caught sight of me- it was a mixed sort of shock, horror and guilt I could not explain. His eyes were bloodshot, as though he had been crying the entire afternoon till evening.. I don't know.

"He was trembling, and I remember wanting to reach out to him, give him my support.. But I remember I didn't, since I knew he would push me away immediately. I wanted to agitate him no more than he already seemed..

"'She's gone..' I remember telling him involuntarily, catching what I had thought was a question in his eyes.

"What surprised me was his reaction- he nodded in weariness, as if he already knew, and turned to walk down the hallway away from me.. I only reacted after he had completely disappeared, but after that I wasn't able to find him anymore for that night.. It was like he knew I would look for him, and he was purposely hiding from me..

"I waited outside his room the whole night after searching for him, but he never returned. Not even in the morning, when the bells for classes rang. The situation continued as so for the entire week after that night; I would be searching for him using whatever free time I could take off the paperwork, and he would be avoiding me regardless, sometimes even skipping class when he knew they coincided with my free periods.. It would have lasted longer, I believed, but then the package from Misaki arrived.."

_Sagara couldn't quite wait; slamming the room door shut right behind the delivery boy who had barely turned his back, the post-graduate paced into his room urgently, holding the package preciously in shaking hands. However, even before he quite made it to his desk he had already sank onto his knees, setting the large package gingerly onto the floor; and once Sagara started, he couldn't stop himself from blindly tearing his way through the thick, brown wrappings._

_His fingers worked with a sort of determined desperation - in his haste, he almost gave himself a papercut. Finally, with the last layers of the wrapping paper ripped apart, Sagara felt his fingertips come in contact with the naturally rough surface of carved wood, much different from the smooth, layered wrappings before._

_But he could not see it clearly anymore - before he knew, the scene before him had been reduced to a mess of brown scattered all around him, courtesy to the clinging moisture in his eyes._

_Reaching out a hand to quickly brush off the offending tears, clearing his sight, Sagara lifted what appeared to be a wooden chest gently from the remains of the wrapping papers. He dared not rattle the box lest it contained breakable objects within it, and a quick but delicate inspection of it soon revealed that there was no way for him to open the chest to find out - there was a small but firm lock at its front, keeping the chest tightly sealed. He didn't wish to forcefully break the lock, but there was no such key enclosed in the package.._

_However, Sagara didn't see the need to go scavenging for the key. He already had a pretty good idea where the key would be, the moment the lock caught his eyes._

_As if on cue, a series of urgent knocks sounded at his door; setting the chest down and closing the distance between himself and the door, Sagara pulled it open without hesitation to reveal a breathless Arata-kun, who had a fist clenched at his chest while he panted painfully - he had been running, Sagara understood. In just that moment Sagara's study of the heavy eyebags beneath his junior's eyes was distracted as he caught sight of a hint of rusted bronze - hidden within a crumpled letter clutched in his junior's fist.. At the exact same time, Arata-kun's eyes found its way to the wooden chest resting innocently on the floor of his senior's room._

_The exact, same thought shot through their minds as their eyes finally met -_

_What a clever, brilliant idea it had been for Misaki to send the chest and its key separately.._

_As Arata-kun drew himself into the room without any further prompt, Sagara lingered behind to shut the door. The senior half expected the junior to already have rushed to open the chest since he held the key.. When he turned around, he was surprised to find Arata-kun standing just a little away from himself, staring at him instead of at the chest._

_"Go on," Sagara said with a raised brow, half in question and half in incomprehension._

_In response, Arata-kun caught him by complete surprise when he shook his head, them immediately proceeding to close the distance between them, reaching out to pull Sagara into an awkward hug._

_"I'm sorry," Arata-kun apologised in a small, tired voice._

_Sagara bit back his question just before it slipped from his lips. "It's alright," he replied with a sigh, squeezing into the hug Arata-kun was holding him in. He wished he could, but he couldn't read Arata-kun's expression since the other boy had his face hidden behind Sagara's own shoulder.. "You'll be alright. We'll be alright."_

_Arata-kun drew away and turned his face.. Not without shooting an unfathomable grimace in Sagara's direction._

_"I hope so, too.."_

"We opened the chest in the package together, don't ask me how.. And the feeling we got from lifting the freed lid was like.. Rediscovering a buried time capsule, I would say. It was a chest of memories - stuffed toys and other gifts they've once exchanged, bits and tokens, pressed-dried flowers, and pieces of their past short but sweet time together.. Yes, it could be described as a time capsule indeed.. It was a difficult choice, deciding whether we should continue sorting through her artifacts halfway or stop it to stop our tears, but in the end we decided to see it through till the end.. It was a very intimate moment and I honestly didn't want to face it - I wanted to walk away from the chest, but I could not stand leaving Arata-kun alone.. By the time we were done lifting everything out from the chest, we were both drained emotionally, and of our tears.

And there we almost missed it - there was a brown envelope disguised at the bottom of the wooden chest, and if we hadn't double-checked to see if we've missed anything, we would have missed it, really. The letter was addressed directly to Arata-kun, so there was no denying who was the true recipient of this package.. The letter was probably just to say goodbye, I thought, and it probably only carried as much weight as the other items which were in the chest.. So I walked away from Arata-kun then, gave him some space, thinking that he would want to read his last letter from Misaki alone..

"It was only after I came to understand the contents of the letter did I come to regret my decision of not filtering through the letter first.."

"What was in the letter, Sagara-senpai?"

It took an eternity of silently held breaths for Toshihisa to blurt out the question, and another for Sagara-senpai to finally answer.

"False hope," was Sagara-senpai's dull reply.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

Sorry for this long, long overdue chapter..  
**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

"It was a short letter of thanks, I discovered later after snatching it from Arata-kun's trembling hands, since he was held fast on the spot for some reason. Misaki wanted to thank Arata-kun for everything from the start and everything till the end.. The letter was alright up till that point, and I had hoped that she would end her goodbyes right there..

"But she didn't.

"In her letter, she disclosed a promise - an old myth, I researched and found out later. Something about how each person was born into this world with a twin or two somewhere out there, near or far; something along the lines of that, in this world, there was at least another person who would be exactly like you.. Be it by looks, by character, or by both. In other words, she hinted she might return as someone else, or that Arata-kun might find someone resembling her either physically or mentally.. A blatant false hope.. That had been her intention all along.

"Maybe she was getting back at me, I wouldn't know - I might have bought the lie, too, if it wasn't my sister who had written it in this context..

"Seeing through the lie to her intentions straight away, I tried to convince Arata-kun to realise it to be so as well.. I've known my sister enough to not take her seriously when she jokes about things like this, but Arata-kun didn't. It wasn't a joke, not to Arata-kun at the least. From the flare in his eyes, I knew he had bought the lie the moment he read it, and there was nothing I could do to get it out of his mind. I disposed of the letter that day, by burning it, and Arata-kun had been quite angered at my reaction.. But he didn't need the letter anymore, not when it was already burnt into his memories from the moment he set eyes on her writing. He didn't understand- more like, he couldn't, and he didn't want to try to understand why I claimed it was nothing but a lie, and he would not forget that which I tried explaining was false..

"The contents of the letter, that false hope.. It became Arata-kun's everything.

"It was as though this assumed promise of being able to somehow reunite with Misaki one day had refueled Arata-kun's spirits, and it helped him 'recover'- somewhat, from then on. After we repacked the chest and buried it aside in a safe location on Shidou's grounds, Arata-kun went back to being just the way he was - cynical, apathetic, aloof; but he was smiling for a real reason now, the reason being Misaki, or rather, his wait for Misaki's return.. He went back to whatever remains of his social circle, contacting me on her cellphone only when he was close to the edge of breaking down from recalling about her.. But from then on, I could see how Arata-kun had shifted his priorities - it was not unlike him shifting the center of his universe so that everything revolved around Misaki, keeping in mind the last promise she had left behind..

"He was due to transfer from Shidou Academy to a Medical Academy in his second year, but he stayed in memory of Misaki.. He was never a big fan of medical sciences, but that changed after what happened with Misaki.. In guilt, or in hopes that he would be able to help in the future should something else happen when Misaki returns? I don't know. There were so much more little things that he had changed, that I couldn't even name.."

Syozo gulped at the shocking new information revealed to them. He had been considering their weight when he suddenly jumped at the sudden thought of Shingyoji-kun, who was still in the room with them. Sneaking a peak at the boy by his side, Syozo couldn't help but to notice, without surprise, that Shingyoji-kun had had his face buried in his hands, and he was trembling with all his effort of holding back what was undoubtedly tears..

With confused thoughts running through his head, Syozo tore his eyes away from Shingyoji-kun's shivering form, just in time to catch Gii's studying gaze before they each looked away in embarrassment. The only person who would take a real hit from all these information was Shingyoji-kun, they all knew..

"I really hope this doesn't affect your opinion of Arata-kun, you know.. He's been through his fair share of sorrow.."

_That's really quite a lot to ask for.._ was the uniform thought that ran through the boys' minds as they exchanged nervous glances while sitting up in their seats - everyone except Shingyoji-kun, of course, who was already lost in his own thoughts.

"What really troubles me," Sagara-senpai continued suddenly, ignoring the discomfort that everyone else in the room had slipped into. "I mean, the reason why I saw the need to retell this story.. Was because I had received Arata-kun's call a few hours ago tonight. As usual, he had called on Misaki's cellphone.. I keep it with me in the case where Arata-kun needed help urgently, since he was used to dialing Misaki's number before mine if he was breaking down.. Anyway, he called tonight because he broke down again, and I found out in the middle of the conversation that he claimed to have found the 'someone' Misaki had been referring to in her letter.."

The looks of shock Sagara-senpai received in immediate response told him that they weren't around to witness it, and that they didn't know yet.

"I guessed as much.." sighed Sagara-senpai. "He told me he had found somebody, but before I could ask more about it, our talk was interrupted by someone bringing news about Saki's immediate arrival, and he hung up on me rather urgently."

Even without glancing to his side, Sagara-senpai could feel the sudden shocked glares on him, especially from Gii's direction.

"I know, I know.. I thought his reaction upon hearing Saki's arrival was weird, too, so I made a trip down to Shidou.. There I heard about what had happened in the music hall and to Hayama Takumi-kun from the head Director, and following his advice I decided to drop by the hospital after finding out that it was the one managed by Arata-kun's family.. I only discovered that you were all here, later, after I arrived. When I arrived outside of the hospital, I found the police authorities present there, all agitated for some reason.. And it was not difficult for someone of my position to coax some information and the overall situation out of them.

"I've never quite spoken to Hayama Takumi-kun - I've only seen him on that few occasions I run into Saki on school grounds when you both are together.. Of course I'm familiar with Saki's relationship with Hayama-kun, so I was worried. From what I've discovered for myself, Hayama-kun had had a pretty rough childhood, hadn't he? It was a point of resemblance to my sister.. I'm not saying anything. Of course, Hayama-kun's character was not exactly similar yet nowhere too unlike my sister's.. These had me worried, so I told myself I would drop by the hospital either ways to check the situation out.."

"So you're trying to say-"

"I fear for the worst," Sagara-senpai interrupted quickly, shaking his head. "I believe Arata-kun had been referring to this Hayama Takumi-kun, so I-"

"Wait."

Before Sagara-senpai could finish his sentence, a rough voice interrupted and caught all of their attention. Directing their gaze to the corner where Shingyoji-kun was sitting at, everyone noticed in shock that Shingyoji-kun had stopped crying, and was staring straight ahead without actually seeing- though the corners of his eyes were still moist with clinging tears.

"Arata-san and Hayama-san.. We've left their rooms unattended.."

The sudden realization rudely shocked everyone, and Toshihisa even jumped out of his seat.

"But we've locked the door to Hayama's room," Syozo tried to reason, although his voice was meek without conviction. "It's way past midnight-"

"Wouldn't Arata-kun have the keys?" questioned Sagara-senpai uncertainly. "After all, he was named the doctor in-charge of Hayama Takumi's case, I've heard.."

"We should go, in any case-" Gii interrupted quickly, his voice thick with anxiety. "If either of them had woken up in the middle of our conversation-"

Before he could finish, Shingyoji-kun had thrown himself out of his seat, wrenched the door open and took off towards the stairwell; it was only after the junior's echoing footsteps softened did the rest of the seniors react, and rushed out of the room to chase after Shingyoji-kun's disappearing silhouette..

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Re-arranging this chapter is proving to be harder than I thought- I'm sorry I had to cut the previous chapter 17 into 4 parts, but at least they're more or less even in length now..

Chapter 18 soon to come! ;)


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer** : The Takumi-kun Series belongs to Shinobu Gotoh and Kazumi Ohya.. I'd very much like to thank them for this wonderful BL series.

**Note** : Here I pictured Hamao Kyousuke as Takumi and Daisuke Watanabe as Gii, not their manga counterparts.  
That includes Takiguchi Yukihiro as Syozo (XD), Baba Ryoma as Misu Arata (XDD), etc.

Sorry for this long, long overdue chapter..  
**Tsuki no Namida : Tears of the Moon**

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**Chapter 17**

She drew away as swiftly as she had came - Misu thought almost immediately that she had gone, disappeared into the blurry canvas, but he then found her standing a stiff distance away in a blink of his eyes. She caught his gaze and in the drizzle he could see her parted her lips, and briefly Misu felt the urge to run away at once; but he remained, stayed to hear the words she had burnt into his memory through that one phone call..

_"Why?"_ she asked, her voice barely a ghastly whisper - as though she was underwater, or just faraway in the rain. _"Why didn't you come?"_

Misu's hands clenched themselves into fists. "I.. I couldn't.. I didn't believe.."

_"Why didn't you come?"_ She asked, again, shaking her head sadly. _"Why didn't you come?"_

A squall caught him straight in the face, and Misu was thrown off-balance for a moment. Pushed backwards by a step, the third year worked to steady himself again before looking up. Now joining her by her side were his parents, each standing on either side of the girl he loved, each gazing at him with the same closed, sorrowful expression. Misu swallowed with great difficulty; his breath was caught stuck in his throat.

This was the confrontation he had dared not imagined.

_"We had expected you to take better care of yourself, Arata.."_ His mother blinked in emphasized slowness, catching his eyes as she did. Her voice carried the same empty, airy quality, and despite his situation, Misu had to avert his eyes from his mother - or the vision of her, whatever she was - his real parents barely had any time for him since they were always busy with the hospital, at the hospital. Even so, even if he knew she was just a fragment of his imagination or memories, it still stung to look her directly in the eyes. He could not answer to her expectations..

Saving the worst thorn in his heart for the last, Misu blinked as he glanced away from his mother, and winced as his gaze landed on his father. The older male stood tall and proud as Misu always remembered him to be, with his legs together and his shoulders firm. Right now he was glaring fixedly at Misu, making him feel like a small, immature kid all over again. It had always been an uncomfortable experience, and it was still annoying and hurtful for Misu even in his teenage years.

The glare set into his father's brows said it all: _"Your irresponsibility shows me you're not willing, or even prepared for a position in the hospital."_

His mother confirmed his unspoken doubts, echoing it as though for his benefit. _"Are you really certain about a position in the hospital? With your body in its current state.. Your hand.. How can we put our trust in you if you can't even show us you're willing to commit.."_

"Of course I'm willing to commit! I decided on the path of a doctor because- because.."

It was then did he finally allow his eyes to fall, once again, on the lonely figure of his beloved girl, sandwiched between his parents.. She had been the center of it all. She looked so extremely tiny and fragile in comparison.. A thick veil of grief covered her face, and it was her lifeless, mourning eyes that stung straight through Misu's heart.

"Because of-" _-you.._

_"Then why didn't you come?"_

Her fleeting gaze caught his eyes and she parted her lips in question, again, and Misu was forced to swallow back his explanation. The flare in his frame had gone, drenched by the drizzle gradually turning into a heavy downpour; but it seemed he was the only one affected by the rain. The figures lined before him seemed to not mind the downpour at all. Backing away step by step, Misu shook his head in disbelief.. Before he knew it, he had turned his back and was running away from them, his head bowed down in guilt and in pain.

However, they would not leave him alone; their voices surrounded him like echoes in a tunnel, repeating like a broken tape recorder..

_"Why can't you hold your promises?"_

_"Why are you so irresponsible?"_

_"Why didn't you come?"_

When had he entered an actual tunnel, Misu didn't know; his former surroundings seemed to have blurred out of existence on their own accord. He was now running through what seemed like an underground tunnel, the walls around him grey from dirt and dust - and the voices of his loved ones seemed to be issued directly from within those walls. Bringing his hands up to cover his ears, Misu squeezed his eyes shut and kept running, not stopping even to check where he was going - as far as he knew, the tunnel was just going straight, and it didn't seem to have an exit..

A sudden fresh scent hit him in the face and the realization hit him with shock as Misu opened his eyes to find himself halting before the door of a hospital room. The name plate on the door wrote "Sagara" - it was unmistakably Misaki's hospital room.. With a hand already on the doorknob, Misu hesitated at the door - until he heard a chorus of panic issued from within: exclamations, sharp scrapping and clanging from what sounded most definitely like medical tools, the erratic beeping of machinery.. But most importantly, loud and ragged breathing which could not be masked by the rest of the non-symphonic sounds..

_Open the door!_ His mind screamed, but his hand would not move - he could not, not when there was someone else holding his hand firmly by his wrist..

Looking past the familiar touch at the person stopping him from entering the door, Misu felt his frame jerk in rude surprise as he found himself gazing into Shingyoji's large, distant irises. There was no trace of malice in his expression - only a deep sorrow, mourning - but Misu could not see past the need to have Shingyoji let go of his hand to notice those over-flowing emotions in the junior's eyes.

"What are you doing, Shingyoji, let go of me! Move away!" Misu yelled in anxiety and in fear of losing this chance of seeing Misaki for the last time, clawing at the tight grip Shingyoji had on his wrist - but the younger boy would not bulge. Pain shot through his suddenly furrowed brows, but Shingyoji only gripped on with more strength than before.

"No, I can't," he replied softly, shaking his head, only to have Misu slam his frame into him in an attempt to catch him off guard - but Shingyoji could not, and would not let go..

"Don't stop me, Shingyoji- Move!" exclaimed Misu, steadying himself as Shingyoji did the same. "Don't- Let go-"

_"Misu-kun-"_

A soft whisper-like voice called out to him from behind him, but Misu had his senses all focused on breaking free from Shingyoji and chose to ignore it..

"I can't, Arata-san, please.. I can't let you go.."

Ignoring the junior's pleas, Misu had his eyes trained on the door just ahead as he continued digging nails into Shingyoji's hand.

"Please Shingyoji, I need to-"

_"Misu-kun-"_

Shut up- It's just there.. He is so close.. If only he could just reach out..

"I cannot.."

Misu's eyelids fell shut and his head dropped in dismay as the sounds of the room started to fade away from them both; this is his last chance.. This _was_ his last chance..

"Please, Move!"

_"Misu-kun!"_

Saddened, and confused, Misu opened his eyes once again to find himself back in his own hospital ward- no, this was Hayama's hospital ward, not his own.. He realised slowly; and it was only then did he notice how the mentioned third year was crouching over him, with a hand outstretched hesitantly as though he wasn't sure if he should reach out or withdraw his hand, with a worried expression clouding his beautiful irises as Misu peered into them in a daze. As he blinked, Misu felt a drop of moisture slide down his face and falling towards his ear - he was lying on his back on the hospital bed, he realised. Why was Hayama crouching over him in such an intimate position? Why was he made to see Misaki again, and why did he just shed a tear?

Above him, Hayama gave a sigh of relief, reaching out his hand to brush away Misu's tear lightly, before finally resting his palm on the mattress by the side of Misu's face to support the weight of his frame on top of the other third year's. "You're finally awake, Misu-kun.."

"Hayama.."

"You were having a nightmare," Hayama replied immediately, as though answering the unstated question from Misu. "I helped you lie down, but when you didn't seem to get better, I decided to wake you up.."

_So it was all just another nightmare.._ "Ah," Misu sighed, staring directly into Hayama's eyes since neither of them felt the need to look away. ".. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Hayama smiled, a cute close-lipped smile with his head tilted to the side slightly, and made a move to shift away from crouching over Misu. "I'm sorry about-"

Before he could finish his explanation, however, Misu had reached out both his hands and cupped them around Hayama's face - the sudden movement silenced Hayama, stopping his movements as well. For a moment, they held the position silently, just gazing into each others' eyes, trying to understand what was going through each others' minds..

Studying Hayama's rapidly blinking eyelids, and Hayama's pursed lips as though he was chewing on them from inside, Misu sighed as he berated himself for not ever realising how cute and beautiful Hayama was; how perfectly his features were arranged. He had watched, many times, as Hayama tossed and turned in his own bed until he fell asleep, but Misu had never felt the need to go closer - he had never saw the need to study the boyfriend of his only worthy match in Shidou. Now that he was given the chance and the time, Misu couldn't help but to feel the need to hold onto this moment, this face, this boy in his hands, for as long as he could..

"Misu-kun-" Hayama began uncertainly, finally starting to resist against the foreign touch on his cheeks. "What-"

"Shh," Misu cooed, blinking in deliberate slowness as he took in the boy in his sight. "Don't move."

"What are you-"

"Shh."

The moment held itself in silence, and distracted, neither of them noticed the urgent footsteps issued from down the hallway..

"You know, Hayama.. It's hardly fair.."

Ignoring the surprised questions suddenly shot through Hayama's clear irises, Misu closed his eyes and pulled Hayama's face closer to his own.. Till they were nose to nose, and he caught Hayama's lips with his own in a light, testing kiss.

" ! ! "

The door flew open, but the noise that was threatening to fill the room was killed instantly as those at the door caught sight of the scene in the room..

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Really, really sincerely hoping you've enjoyed this story so far.  
Thank you all for your sweet comments and reviews!

Chapter 18 soon to come! ;)


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